OUTCOME AFTER CHILDHOOD ENCEPHALITIS

The prognosis for 73 children treated for encephalitis between 1973 and 1983 was evaluated. 70 children participated in a follow-up examination 2.4 to 12.9 years after the acute phase of the disease. The 61 school-aged children had lower performance and full-scale IQs than their randomly selected, age- and sex-matched controls. Visual acuity was more often reduced, and they more often had focal slowing on EEG and electronystagmogram abnormalities. Clinically, these differences were not significant. Encephalitis with a poor prognosis occurred seldom, the incidence being 3.5 cases per one million children at risk annually. These results show that the prognosis for childhood encephalitis is much better than anticipated on the basis of experience mainly with herpes simplex virus encephalitis.