ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of three sections. The first is an introductory section entitled ‘General Principles’, which includes a general overview of neurovirology and a brief review of some of the stereotyped pathological processes and main patterns of viral infection of the central nervous system (CNS). The next two sections cover first the acute and then the subacute and chronic viral infections. Viral taxonomy provides an organizational framework for these two sections, which contain descriptions of the diseases caused by individual viruses. The descriptions mostly follow a standard format: some background or historical information, followed by an account of the structure of the virus, the epidemiology and pathogenesis of the infection, the clinical features, and the gross and microscopic neuropathological findings. Although logical, this organization has limitations for use in diagnosis; an individual virus may mediate several different types of neurological disease, and, conversely, some of the neurological diseases that are described in this chapter can be caused by more than one virus (or can have both viral and non-viral aetiologies). To address these limitations, the first section of this chapter includes a summary of the principal patterns of viral disease of the CNS and their causes; in subsequent sections, boxes and tables are used to provide information about clinical syndromes that can be caused by several different viruses.
