Czupryna et al.
Sequelae of tick-borne encephalitis in retrospective analysis of 1072 patients.
Epidemiol. Infect. 1-8, https://doi.org/10.101017/50950268818002005
A retrospective study of 1072 TBE patients with either meningitis (M), meningoencephalitis (ME) or meningoencephalomyelitis (MEM) between 1993 and 2014 has been carried out at the Medical University of Bialystok, where the majority of TBE patients in Poland are hospitalized. When patients were discharged, 15.7% had remaining symptoms and the most frequent complaints were sleep disorders and cognitive symptoms: concentration disorders, psychiatric-psychotic disorders and neurologic-cerebellar syndrome. During the follow-up, one month after discharge, 20.6% of the patients developed sequelae – 12.6% with M, 25.4% with ME and 43.3% with MEM. These post-encephalitic TBE syndromes often affect the patient’s quality of life and forces a change in lifestyle. Other scientists have reported a higher rate of sequelae than 20%, however, in this study, most of the patients have had a mild form of disease (M) and strict criteria have been used for sequelae excluding mild symptoms. The frequency of sequelae and the severity of sequelae differed depending on the clinical form of TBE. Patients with MEM and ME developed more neurological sequelae than patients with M. Age and protein concentration in CSF were independent risk factors for development of sequelae – increasing risk the for late neurological complications with higher protein concentration. Although most sequelae were mild (such as headache and vertigo), they influenced the quality of life, and in some patients, they even persisted over 10 years.