[Clinical forms of acute herpetic infections of the central nervous system in adults].

The authors describe the course of herpetic encephalitis in 52 patients aged 16 to 64 years. Five types of the initial manifestations of herpetic infection of the CNS were revealed. In 44.3% of cases the disease started from the general cerebral symptomatology and consciousness disturbance; in 13.6% it started in a brain stroke-like manner followed by the development of the comatose status; in 13.6% of cases from memory disorder and unmotivated actions; in the same percentage of cases, the disease onset was marked by the dominance of dizziness, diplopia, ataxia and central hemiplegia ; in 15.9% the disease started from pains in the stomach, loin and lower limbs. Hemispheric and pseudotumorous stem encephalitides (48.1 and 13.6% respectively) were predominant; in 25% meningoencephalitides and in the remainder, encephalomyelitis running their course in the form of disseminated encephalomyelitis (5.7%), focal myelitis (5.7%) or opticomyelitis (1.9%). The data presented attest to the pleomorphism of the clinical picture of herpetic lesions of the CNS.