Tick-borne meningoencephalitis in a 4.5-month-old infant.

BACKGROUND

The course of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in children is supposed to be mild though severe neurological sequelae have been reported. Only occasionally infants are affected.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

Case report, review of literature.

RESULTS

We describe the first case of tick-borne encephalitis in a 4.5-month-old male infant in Germany. 11 days after a tick-bite he developed acute illness with fever, focal and generalized seizures. Meningoencephalitis caused by the TBE virus was diagnosed by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis and detection of TBE-RNA in the CSF. Neurological follow-up showed no abnormalities.

CONCLUSIONS

The acute meningoencephalitis in the present case and the neurological short and long term morbidity of 3 additional published cases of TBE suggest the considerable burden of this disease in infancy. As parents can transmit the tick to their infant informations about exposure-prophylactic measurements are recommended.