Improvement of behavioural and manic-like symptoms secondary to herpes simplex virus encephalitis with mood stabilizers: a case report

摘要

Herpes simplex encephalitis (HE) is one of the most common aetiologies of fatal sporadic encephalitis (Whitley, 1990). Although acyclovir has greatly decreased mortality, HE is still associated with significant mortality (19–28%) and morbidity with rates of complete recovery less than 50% (Skoldenberg et al. 1984; Taira et al. 2009). Behavioural and cognitive symptoms are common sequelae of HE, even when appropriate antiviral therapy is administered in the acute stage of the illness (McGrath et al. 1997). Therefore, there is a need for novel therapeutic regimens for HE, given that current available treatment is not fully effective and the scarce available literature suggests benefit with alternative treatments.