Neuroinvasive disease due to West Nile virus: Clinical and imaging findings associated with a re-emerging pathogen

Abstract

The West Nile virus (WNV) is an arbovirus than can infect human beings and cause severe neuroinvasive disease. Taking the outbreak that occurred in Spain in 2020 as a reference, this article reviews the clinical and imaging findings for neuroinvasive disease due to WNV. We collected demographic, clinical, laboratory, and imaging (CT and MRI) variables for 30 patients with WNV infection diagnosed at our center. The main clinical findings were fever, headache, and altered levels of consciousness. Neuroimaging studies, especially MRI, are very useful in the diagnosis and follow-up of these patients. The most common imaging findings were foci of increased signal intensity in the thalamus and brainstem in T2-weighted sequences; we illustrate these findings in cases from our hospital.

Keywords: Computed tomography; Encefalitis; Encephalitis; Magnetic resonance imaging; Resonancia magnética; Tomografía computarizada; Virus del Nilo Occidental; West Nile virus.