Encephalitis: symptoms that appear at first and then. How to recognize the disease?

Encephalitis is an inflammatory process that occurs in the gray or white matter of the brain. It can be caused by a virus, bacterial process, and even an allergic reaction to injected serum or a vaccine. Symptoms of encephalitis infection may appear unexpectedly, when there was no vaccination, no insect bite, no other apparent cause. It can be the so-called sclerosing panencephalitis or encephalitis Economone, the causes of which have not yet been established.

The most famous is tick-borne encephalitis, the symptoms of which appear 8-18 days after the tick bite. If the bite fell on the head and neck area, then the incubation period is shorter - up to 7 days. And even after 4 days a person can feel the first signs of ailment.

The most dangerous and disabling - caused by the herpes simplex virus encephalitis, the symptoms of which can appear 5-14 days after the initial entry into the body or another exacerbation of this infection against a background of a strong decrease in immunity.

The measles, rubella and chickenpox encephalitis have their incubation period, after which the symptoms of the disease itself (temperature, rash) first develop, and only then, after 5-7 days, the first symptoms of encephalitis appear.

Purulent encephalitis can occur on the background of untreated manifestations of purulent otitis media, pneumonia, osteomyelitis or other diseases caused by a bacterial factor.

If an inoculation was made, encephalitis can develop on the 9-11th day (after vaccination from smallpox) or from the 10th day to several months (after vaccination against rabies).

How is encephalitis manifested. Symptoms of the infectious process:

1. Such encephalitis usually begins with prodromal phenomena: coughing, sore throat, runny nose. There may be a rash and other manifestations characteristic of chicken pox, measles or rubella, or the disease will be preceded by a purulent process.

2. The first symptoms of encephalitis: severe headache, which is usually located in the frontal region or captures the entire head. It increases with the turns of the head, sharp movements. It is often accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and the latter can be sudden, without nausea, abundant, and after it does not become easier.

3. The appetite decreases, it is often impossible to give a drink to a sick person. Adult patients, conscious and understanding that they need to drink, are afraid to do this because of nausea or vomiting.

4. There is a growing weakness, drowsiness.

5. Dizziness.

6. Photophobia.

These signs are very similar to manifestations of meningitis, and it is possible to distinguish isolated meningitis from encephalitis or meningoencephalitis only according to MRI.

Indicate the symptoms of encephalitis:

- convulsions, often with respiratory arrest, arising repeatedly;

- a person can become inadequate, aggressive, then drowsiness grows up to a coma;

- sometimes drowsiness builds up so quickly that in 6-8 hours the patient can not be awakened;

- may be a violation of breathing: frequent (more than 20 per minute) or, conversely, rare (8-10 per minute), you can sometimes notice that the intervals between the inhalations are unequal;

- strabismus;

- unsteadiness of gait;

- Numbness in the extremities, a sensation of creepy;

- difficulty urinating, when a urge to eat, and go to the toilet does not work;

- paralysis or paresis (incomplete paralysis);

- violation of swallowing;

- asymmetry of the face and pupils also point to encephalitis;

- there may be other manifestations of encephalitis, for example, hearing loss or vision.

For yourself, remember the following: if such symptoms appear against the background of normal temperature, it rises only afterwards, this may mean that a person has a stroke. These diseases are often distinguished only by the data of lumbar puncture and MRI pictures.