Severe bornavirus-encephalitis presenting as Guillain–Barré-syndrome

Excerpt

The underlying cause of encephalitis and other inflammatory diseases of the human central nervous system remains unclear in a substantial number of cases. Not infrequently, these cases are then assigned an “autoimmune” or “probably infectious” etiology. Two species of bornaviruses are currently unequivocally associated with encephalitis in mammals including humans. Mammalian 2 orthobornavirus (variegated squirrel bornavirus, VSBV) was identified as the cause of encephalitis in breeders of imported squirrels [2]; Mammalian 1 orthobornavirus (BoDV-1 and -2) is the agent of zoonotic borna disease, an encephalitic disease characterized by disturbances of behavior and movements in warm-blooded animals [4] that is most often diagnosed in horses and sheep. Recently, we detected BoDV-1 as the cause of fatal encephalitis in a previously healthy young man [3], and it was found in a cluster of encephalitic disease in organ recipients that received organs of a single donor from southern Bavaria [6]. Due to these new findings, BoDV-1 has now to be considered in the differential diagnosis of human encephalitic CNS diseases. …