Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) - All You Must Know!

Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, recognized as AES is a type of neurological disorder. In this type of disorder, the brain and the limbic system gets affected by the attack of a specific bacteria or virus. Recently, the virus was found in Lychee fruit. According to several reports, Lychee was found to be packed with a virus that causes deadly brain disease, Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and several patients showed symptoms related to AES.

Approximately 50 children in Bihar died after consuming Lychee. All the children showed related symptoms like a rapid decrease in blood sugar that led to their untimely death. In Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, the virus entered the body and attacked the brain as well as the immune system. It also inflamed the blood vessels of the brain causing brain fever.

How the Virus Cause Acute Encephalitis Syndrome?

Once the virus enters the body through contaminated food, water, or other reasons, it generally migrates to brain tissue and multiplies itself. When the signal reaches to the immune system, it generates the counter-response in the form of a swell or inflamed brain. It leads to viral encephalitis due to the combination of infection and self-generated response. This generally affects CNS and spinal cord that results in damaging the brain cells.

Symptoms

According to Dr Chandril Chugh, it is hard to identify the symptoms of AES, however, once the disease spreads, it shows symptoms like:

● Body aches
● Headache
● Dizziness
● Vision impairment
● Fever, vomiting, and nausea
● Hearing loss
● Fatigue, feeling anxious, confusion, or acting or talking oddly
● Back pain, trouble walking, or weakness,
● Unconsciousness
● Twitching or seizures

Treatment

The first treatment plan for AES is increasing the glucose level and hydration in the body. Controlling the fever and eating healthy nutritious food is the way to treat this viral infection. Some patients may also need ICU care and breathing support. For this type of viral infection, antivirals work instead of antibiotics.

Prevention

There are many preventive measures, however, it totally depends upon the cause of the disease:

● In cases where the cause is mosquito-borne, one should always try methods to kill or stop mosquito.
● Doctors also advise drinking a lot of water which keeps the body hydrated and flushes out toxins from the body.
● It is also essential to wash fruits and vegetables before eating.
● Vaccines are also an important preventive measure. Govt of India guidelines approve 2 doses of Encephalitis vaccine. It should be included in Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) along with measles at the age of 9 months and other with Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) booster during 16-24 months.

Take Away

AES is a brain disease or neurological disorder that may cause the untimely death of a person. Several government policies have been implemented to educate about personal hygiene that prevents these types of diseases. This is a dangerous disease, however, by following certain preventive measures, one may lower the risk of virus attack.