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01-04-2019 | Case Report

Neuroinvasion of influenza A/H3N2: a fatal case in an immunocompetent adult

Authors: Ana Fernández-Blázquez, María Castañón-Apilánez, Marta Elena Álvarez-Argüelles, Christian Sabater-Cabrera, Susana Rojo-Alba, José Antonio Boga, Germán Morís de la Tassa, Brígida Quindós Fernández, Santiago Melón

Published in: Journal of NeuroVirology | Issue 2/2019

Abstract

Acute necrotizing encephalopathy (ANE) is a severe neurologic complication caused by influenza virus that has been infrequently reported in adult population. The diagnosis is made on epidemiological, clinical, and neuroimaging suspicion, but is rarely confirmed by microbiological findings in samples from the central nervous system (CNS), thus making it difficult to define the mechanism of pathogenesis of influenza-associated encephalitis/encephalopathies (IAE). We report a microbiologically documented case of ANE caused by influenza A/H3N2, in a previously healthy adult patient infected during a flu epidemic in Asturias (Spain). Direct viral invasion of the CNS was demonstrated with the isolation of the virus in a brain biopsy.

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Title: Neuroinvasion of influenza A/H3N2: a fatal case in an immunocompetent adult
Authors: Ana Fernández-Blázquez
María Castañón-Apilánez
Marta Elena Álvarez-Argüelles
Christian Sabater-Cabrera
Susana Rojo-Alba
José Antonio Boga
Germán Morís de la Tassa
Brígida Quindós Fernández
Santiago Melón
Publication date: 01-04-2019
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Published in: Journal of NeuroVirology / Issue 2/2019
Print ISSN: 1355-0284
Electronic ISSN: 1538-2443
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13365-018-0690-9

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Neuroinvasion of influenza A/H3N2: a fatal case in an immunocompetent adult

Abstract

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Abstract

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