Viral Encephalitis of Unknown Cause: Current Perspective and Recent Advances
Viral encephalitis causes acute inflammation of the brain parenchyma and is a significant cause of human morbidity and mortality. Although Herpes Simplex encephalitis is the most frequent known cause of fatal sporadic encephalitis in humans, an increasingly wide range of viruses and other microbial...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2017-06-01
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| Series: | Viruses |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/9/6/138 |
| _version_ | 1819169466814038016 |
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| author | Peter G. E. Kennedy Phenix-Lan Quan W. Ian Lipkin |
| author_facet | Peter G. E. Kennedy Phenix-Lan Quan W. Ian Lipkin |
| author_sort | Peter G. E. Kennedy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Viral encephalitis causes acute inflammation of the brain parenchyma and is a significant cause of human morbidity and mortality. Although Herpes Simplex encephalitis is the most frequent known cause of fatal sporadic encephalitis in humans, an increasingly wide range of viruses and other microbial pathogens are implicated. Up to 60% of cases of presumed viral encephalitis remain unexplained due to the failure of conventional laboratory techniques to detect an infectious agent. High-throughput DNA sequencing technologies have the potential to detect any microbial nucleic acid present in a biological specimen without any prior knowledge of the target sequence. While there remain challenges intrinsic to these technologies, they have great promise in virus discovery in unexplained encephalitis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T19:19:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b86610eebee149d9aec69525d58fa42d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4915 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T19:19:57Z |
| publishDate | 2017-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Viruses |
| spelling | doaj.art-b86610eebee149d9aec69525d58fa42d2022-12-21T18:15:25ZengMDPI AGViruses1999-49152017-06-019613810.3390/v9060138v9060138Viral Encephalitis of Unknown Cause: Current Perspective and Recent AdvancesPeter G. E. Kennedy0Phenix-Lan Quan1W. Ian Lipkin2Department of Neurology, Institute of Neurological Sciences, Glasgow University, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow G51 4TF, UKCenter for Infection and Immunity, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USACenter for Infection and Immunity, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USAViral encephalitis causes acute inflammation of the brain parenchyma and is a significant cause of human morbidity and mortality. Although Herpes Simplex encephalitis is the most frequent known cause of fatal sporadic encephalitis in humans, an increasingly wide range of viruses and other microbial pathogens are implicated. Up to 60% of cases of presumed viral encephalitis remain unexplained due to the failure of conventional laboratory techniques to detect an infectious agent. High-throughput DNA sequencing technologies have the potential to detect any microbial nucleic acid present in a biological specimen without any prior knowledge of the target sequence. While there remain challenges intrinsic to these technologies, they have great promise in virus discovery in unexplained encephalitis.http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/9/6/138virusencephalitisvirus discoveryunbiased high-throughput sequencing |
| spellingShingle | Peter G. E. Kennedy Phenix-Lan Quan W. Ian Lipkin Viral Encephalitis of Unknown Cause: Current Perspective and Recent Advances Viruses virus encephalitis virus discovery unbiased high-throughput sequencing |
| title | Viral Encephalitis of Unknown Cause: Current Perspective and Recent Advances |
| title_full | Viral Encephalitis of Unknown Cause: Current Perspective and Recent Advances |
| title_fullStr | Viral Encephalitis of Unknown Cause: Current Perspective and Recent Advances |
| title_full_unstemmed | Viral Encephalitis of Unknown Cause: Current Perspective and Recent Advances |
| title_short | Viral Encephalitis of Unknown Cause: Current Perspective and Recent Advances |
| title_sort | viral encephalitis of unknown cause current perspective and recent advances |
| topic | virus encephalitis virus discovery unbiased high-throughput sequencing |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/9/6/138 |
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