To what extent can clinical characteristics be used to distinguish encephalitis from encephalopathy of other causes? Results from a prospective observational study

Table 2 Diagnoses in patients with encephalopathy of other cause than encephalitis (n = 117, group B)

Diagnostic category	No of patients
Infection outside CNS (n = 39)
Respiratory tract	21
Urinary tract	3
Unknown/ other	15
Infection in CNS (n = 19)^a
Bacterial meningitis^b	11
Aseptic meningitis^c	5
Other CNS infections^d	3
Neurological disease (n = 24)
Epilepsy	13
Nonepileptic seizures	4
Other^e	7
Encephalopathies (n = 8)^f
Toxic	4
Metabolic	4
Other diagnosis (n = 27)
Cerebrovascular disorders^g	6
Psychiatric disorders^h	4
Unspecified disorientation and/ or coma	4
Malignancy in CNSⁱ	3
Pulmonary embolism	3
Other^j	7

^a Other than patients with encephalitis. ^b S.pneumonia (6), S.aureus (3), N meningitides (1), K.oxytoca (1). ^c Culture negative meningitis. ^d Neurosyfilis, possible H1N1 encephalopathy, intracerebral abcess. ^e Transient global amnesia (4), headache/migraine (3). ^f Alcohol withdrawal (2), drug intoxication (2), hepatic encephalopathy (2), hyponatriema (2). ^g Cerebral vasculitis (1), sinuous venous thrombosis (1), cerebrovascular accident (4). ^h Depression (1), psychosis (2), unspecified delirium (1). ⁱ Oligoastrocytoma (2), unknown (1). ^j Dementia with other conditions (2), inflammatory disease (2, Morbus Adult still and Hemophagocytic lymphohistocytosis), medication side effect (1), vestibularis neuritis (1), arrhythmia (1)

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