Japanese encephalitis in children in northern Thailand
Poneprasert, B.
Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health 20(4): 599-603
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0125-1562 PMID: 2561717 Document Number: 327472
Clinical, pathological, serological and therapeutic details are given of 59 children aged 1-14 years with Japanese encephalitis admitted to Maharaj Nakhon Chiang Mai Hospital in 1984 and 1985. The mortality rate was 17%; of the 49 survivors, 57% (28) had neurological sequelae which were severe in 18% (9). These sequelae included memory (usually recent) deficit (46%), mental retardation (42%), hemiplegia (34%), emotional and behavioural disturbance (24%), epilepsy (20%), motor aphasia (16%), cranial nerve palsies (16%), involuntary limb movement (8%) and blindness (2%). All sequelae but the memory and mental deficits showed recovery, albeit slow, within 3 years of onset. Limb paralysis usually became better within 1 year but if not, the limbs remained permanently paralysed.