Active clinical trials for "Encephalitis"

Autoimmune encephalitis and paraneoplastic neurological syndromes are rare diseases caused by an abnormal immune response toward the nervous system. This can lead to life-threatening symptoms, but is in many cases treatable if a swift and correct diagnosis is made. Antibodies targeting neuronal proteins (i.e. "neuronal antibodies") can be detected in serum or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in about half of the patients suffering from these conditions. Although an important part of the diagnostical process of these conditions, diagnosis cannot be made only based on a positive antibody test, but the clinical findings have to be compatible as well. As these conditions are so rare, clinicians might struggle to interpret antibody test results. In this study the investigators aim to estimate the incidence rate of autoimmune encephalitides and paraneoplastic neurological syndromes in the Uppsala-Örebro health care region in Sweden between the years 2015 and 2019. Medical records from patients belonging to the Uppsala-Örebro health care region (a region in the middle of Sweden with a population of approximately 2.1 million), that tested positive for any neuronal antibody in serum or CSF will be studied to obtain clinical, laboratory and radiological data. This data will be used to ascertain if diagnostic criteria are fulfilled as well as to describe clinical characteristics and identifying possible comorbidities.

Multicenter retrospective chart review of patients admitted to any of the six study centers (SSM Health - St. Clare, St. Mary's, Saint Louis University Hospital, St. Anthony's, St. Mary's Madison, Rush University Medical Center, or Methodist Dallas Medical Center) between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2019 will be conducted. All study centers utilize Epic ® electronic health record (Verona, Wisconsin; www.epic.com) for which all data will be extracted from. Each study center will obtain individual IRB approval prior to data collection. SSM - St. Clare will serve as the lead center for the study with all other centers sending collected and de-identified data to this central site for analysis.

This study will examine the structure of the receptor molecule for the herpes simplex virus (HSV) and determine if the receptor's structure is related to susceptibility to infection with the virus. There are two types of herpes virus-HSV-1 and HSV-2. HSV-1 commonly causes cold sores, and HSV-2 usually causes genital herpes. The herpes virus enters (infects) cells through protein molecules on the cell's surface. This study will explore possible differences between the structure of the HSV receptor molecule in different people to understand better how infection occurs. The study will also look at proteins on white blood cells (Fc receptors, cytokines and mannose binding protein) that may influence the risk of infection with HSV. Information from this study may lead to new treatments to prevent HSV infection. People 18 years of age and older who are infected with HSV and people who are not infected with the virus may be eligible for this study. Participants will have blood drawn to confirm whether or not they have been infected with the virus. The blood sample will also be used to study the genes for the HSV receptor, Fc receptors, cytokines, mannose binding protein and related proteins on the white blood cells. No more than 40 milliliters (8 teaspoons) of blood will be drawn. Participants who are found to have antibodies to HSV-2 will be offered counseling and advice on practicing safe sex techniques to help prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HSV-2 infection.

The protocol is to draw peripheral blood from healthy volunteers for in vitro studies. The aims of these in vitro studies are to determine the cellular and intracellular mechanisms by which hypertonic saline and ATP release regulate neutrophil and lymphocyte functions.

The primary purpose of this study is to assess the contribution of a non-invasive sampling (pharyngeal swab) in the diagnosis of community based meningitis or meningo-encephalitis.

First described in 2010, GABA-B-receptor antibodies-associated encephalitis is a disease with a severe vital and functional prognosis. Indeed, functional status is mostly altered by encephalitis and it induced consequences while vital status is mostly engaged by cancer very often associated in the course of the disease, mostly small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). While knowledge is growing on clinical features at each stage of the disease, long-term outcome data is still lacking even if known to be pejorative. In this study, we aimed to describe long-term follow up of all patients who were diagnosed a GABAb-receptor antibodies-associated encephalitis in the French Paraneoplastic Neurological Syndrome Reference Center until now.

Study for performance evaluation of the QIAstat-Dx® Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel in comparison with other chosen comparator methods.

The term "autoimmune encephalitis" denotes an heterogenous group of diseases commonly associated with autoantibodies targeting neural or glial antigens. Patients harboring antibodies against the leucine-rich glioma-inactivated protein 1 (LGI1) usually respond well to immunotherapy, but a significant percentage develop cognitive sequelae and disability nonetheless. These patients would likely benefit for more aggressive and prolonged immunotherapy, aiming to prevent permanent neurological deficits. Identifying features predicting poor outcome would be crucial to guide treatment decisions. Brain magnetic resonance imaging is a key diagnostic tool in the acute phase, but radiological changes may also appear in follow-up studies, including global brain atrophy, hippocampal atrophy and mesial temporal sclerosis. We hypothesize that specific changes identifiable in the acute and chronic phase underlie a higher risk of poor outcome and persistent neurological deficits.

Prospective observational multicenter study in European ICUs. All patients admitted to the ICU for probable or confirmed Acute encephalitis (2013 IDSA - Infectious Disease Society of America criteria) will be included. Factors associated with a poor prognosis will be identified by multivariate analysis using a logistic regression.

The aim of this study is to investigate the immune responses following a booster immunisation with the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine in elderly subjects (above 60 years of age) in comparison to a young study group.