Toscana meningoencephalitis: a comparison to other viral central nervous system infections.

BACKGROUND: Toscana virus (TOSV) is an emerging pathogen causing central nervous system (CNS) infection in Mediterranean countries, mostly during summer season.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the clinical and laboratory characteristics of Toscana CNS infections to the most common viral pathogens seen in the United States.

STUDY DESIGN: We performed a case series of patients with 41 TOSV infection and compared the clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, imaging results and clinical outcomes to the most commonly recognized viral causes of meningoencephalitis in the US [enterovirus (n=60), herpes simplex virus (n=48), and West Nile virus (n=30)] from our multi-center study of patients with aseptic meningoencephalitis syndromes in the Greater Houston area.

RESULTS: TOSV infection occurs in different age groups compared to enterovirus, HSV, and WNV. All infections most frequently occur during summer-fall except HSV which distributes throughout the year. All patients with TOSV had history of travel to endemic areas. There are differences in clinical presentation and CSF findings comparing TOSV and enterovirus, HSV, and WNV infection. There are no significant differences in outcomes of each infection except WNV meningoencephalitis which had a poorer outcome compared to TOSV infection.

CONCLUSIONS: TOSV is an emerging pathogen that should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with CNS infections and a recent travel history to endemic areas.