SELECTIVE LANGUAGE APHASIA FROM HERPES-SIMPLEX ENCEPHALITIS

We report the case of a 16-year-old right-handed Chinese/English bilin gual patient who developed herpes simplex encephalitis involving the l eft temporal lobe, with resultant aphasia. His nature language was Man darin, but he had received extensive training in English for 6 years a fter moving to the United States and was fluent in English. One week a fter admission, he could not speak, comprehend, repeat, name, read, or write in English, but he had relative preservation of most of these f acilities in Mandarin. He could not write in Mandarin, and his syntax was simplified. Two months later, along with intensive bilingual speec h therapy, his reading, writing, and naming in English had almost reco vered.