4. 9 POSTENCEPHALITIC SYNDROME
ICD – 10 (World Health Organization, 1992) describes the
condition as a syndrome which includes residual behavioral change that
follows recovery from viral or bacterial encephalitis. The symptoms are
nonspecific and depend on the individual, the infectious agent, and the
age of the individual at the time of the infection. The disorder is often
reversible, in contrast to the organic personality disorders. The symptoms
of the disorder include general malaise, apathy or irritability, learning
difficulties, altered sleep and eating patterns, and changes in sexuality
and in social judgment. There may be a variety of residual neurological
dysfunctions such as paralysis, deafness, aphasia, constructional apraxia
and acalculia.
Kluver-Bucy syndrome is a
postencephalitic syndrome that follows herpes encephalitis. The core
features of the syndrome include emotional placidity, hyperorality,
hypermetamorphosis (compulsive exploration of the objects in the
environment), bulimia and hypersexuality; and additional features include
aphasia, amnesia, dementia and seizures (Cummings and mega, 2003). The
behavioral manifestations are produced by bilateral temporal lobe
dysfunction.
Lammli et al. (2000) found that 10%
of the patients did not recover the same quality of life after tick-borne
encephalitis as before. The most frequently reported symptoms were
fatigue, concentration deficits and impairment of memory. |
