Etiologies of Encephalitis in Children

Investigators from several Texas institutions conducted a retrospective cohort study to assess the etiology and characteristics of pediatric patients diagnosed with encephalitis. Children were eligible if they had an ICD-9 or ICD-10 code associated with encephalitis or meningoencephalitis from an admission at Texas Children’s Hospital from 2010–2017 and were >90 days old and <18 years old. Investigators reviewed the medical records of eligible children to identify cases of encephalitis using the 2013 International Encephalitis Consortium definition for encephalitis, which required altered mental status lasting ≥24 hours with no other explainable cause and ≥2 of the following: fever ≥38°C within 3 days of presentation, new onset seizures, new onset of focal neurologic findings, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) white blood cell count of ≥5/mm³, new onset neuroimaging …