Chronic and neurotropic: A paradigm-challenging case of dengue virus encephalitis in patient with advanced human immunodeficiency virus infection

Tina Marinelli; Jeffrey Masters; Michael E Buckland; Maggie Lee; William Rawlinson; Ki Wook Kim; Nicolas Urriola; Sebastiaan van Hal

doi:10.1093/cid/ciae061

Chronic and neurotropic: A paradigm-challenging case of dengue virus encephalitis in patient with advanced human immunodeficiency virus infection

Clin Infect Dis. 2024 Feb 6:ciae061. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciae061. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Tina Marinelli¹, Jeffrey Masters^{1

2}, Michael E Buckland^{3

4}, Maggie Lee³, William Rawlinson^{5

6}, Ki Wook Kim⁶, Nicolas Urriola⁷, Sebastiaan van Hal¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
² Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ Department of Neuropathology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁵ Serology and Virology Division, Department of Microbiology, New South Wales Health Pathology, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁶ School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, New South Wales, Australia.
⁷ Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

PMID: 38321565
DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciae061

Abstract

A 32-year-old female with advanced HIV infection presented to an Australian hospital with subacute but worsening symptoms of encephalitis. Metagenomic sequencing and Dengue NS3 antigen staining of brain tissue confirmed active Dengue virus (DENV) encephalitis. The most recent possible DENV exposure was months prior in West Africa, indicating chronicity.

Keywords: Dengue virus; Encephalitis; case report; human immunodeficiency virus; metagenomic sequencing.