Exposure to tropical squirrels can be hazardous to your health.
Patient selection: exposure to variegated squirrel (Sciurus variegatoides)
Virus: variegated squirrel bornavirus (VSBV-1)
The affected patients have been adult males > 60 years of age.
Initial features:
(1) fever
(2) shivers
Features of progressive encephalitis or meningoencephalitis
(1) progressive psychomotor slowing
(2) confusion and altered mental status progressing to coma
(3) unsteady gait
(4) myoclonus
(5) ocular paresis
Other findings:
(1) crural vein thrombosis
Patients show a progressive decline with death within 2 to 4 months of onset.
Diagnosis requires:
(1) identification of the bornavirus by RT-PCR other method.
(2) exclusion of alternative diagnoses
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Specialty: Infectious Diseases, Neurology
ICD-10: ,
