Infections of the central nervous system in emergency department

Abstract

Infections of the central nervous system are frequent diseases in emergency care. They can have a bacterial, parasitic or viral origin. Initial symptoms can be non-specific, which can complicate and delay diagnosis, hence the extreme importance of all the information that can be obtained through anamnesis and physical exploration, with frequent complementary explorations. In the last hundred years, with the introduction of antibiotic drugs, there has been a significant fall in mortality secondary to meningoencephalitis, but in spite of that they continue to provoke high morbidity and mortality. Other phenomena, such as vaccination campaigns, migratory movements, infection by HIV and other states of immunosuppression, have given rise to important epidemiological changes such as the virtual disappearance of some infections or the appearance of others that rarely existed previously. The list of potential infections of the central nervous system is extensive, which is why in this review we set out, from the clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic point of view, those that are most frequent in our environment and some that, although very infrequent, might require emergency attention due to their severity.