Severe forms of tick-borne encephalitis in children

Records of patients aged 0 to 15 years, hospitalised between 1993 and 1998 at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Ljubljana, Slovenia, suffering from a severe attack of tickborne encephalit is (TBE), were reviewed. Of 133 children hospitalised due to TEE virus infe ction during the observation period, 7 (5.2%) were treated in the ICU. All patients were male, aged 6 to 14 (mean, 11.1) years. In six cases, focal en cephalitis was diagnosed, and in one case it was suspected. All patients su rvived. After a mean follow-up period of 7.9 (range, 1.5 to 17) months, one patient was found to have severe neurologic sequelae and two patients had moderate sequelae. In conclusion, the results of our retrospective study of severe forms of TE E in children demonstrate that this disease can run a severe course and may lead to permanent sequelae, most often in boys of school-going age who pre sent with focal encephalitis. Therefore, immunisation of school children ag ainst TEE in endemic areas is strongly recommended.