#ALS-like #Syndrome after #Chikungunya (Cureus, abstract)

[Source: US National Library of Medicine, full page: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]

Cureus. 2019 Oct 9;11(10):e5876. doi: 10.7759/cureus.5876.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-like Syndrome after Chikungunya.

Andrade FC1, Vergetti V1, Cozza G2, Falcao MC1, Azevedo G3.

Author information: 1 Medicine, Faculdade Pernambucana De Saude, Recife, BRA. 2 Medicine, Faculdade Pernambuca De Saude, Recife, BRA. 3 Neurosurgery, Hospital Getulio Vargas, Recife, BRA.

 

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-like syndrome refers to a group of conditions whose outcome is similar to that of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but with different characteristics in the initial phase and response to therapy. The involvement of an earlier age group, the subacute course, and the stabilization or improvement of the clinical condition during the treatment are most important. There is still no evidence of an association between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-like syndrome and chikungunya (CHK) infection in the literature. This report was intended to review this syndrome and present a case that occurred after the epidemic of CHK in Pernambuco in 2016. CHK is a fast-onset febrile illness characterized by intense asthenia, arthralgia, myalgia, headache, and skin rash. Reports range from encephalitis, optic neuritis, myeloradiculitis to Guillain-Barré syndrome, generating drastic sequelae such as mental deficiency, blindness, and persistent paralysis. This is the first case report of a possible association of ALS-like syndrome and chikungunya infection. CHK infection may cause ALS-like syndrome. There is a need for further research in this field to develop therapies for neurological complications such as that of CHK.

Copyright © 2019, Andrade et al.

KEYWORDS: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; arbovirus; chikungunya fever; critically ill; diagnostic techniques

PMID: 31763099 PMCID: PMC6834095 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.5876

Keywords: Chikungunya fever; Amyotrophic Lateral Scleroris; Neurology.

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Giuseppe Michieli

I am an Italian blogger, active since 2005 with main focus on emerging infectious diseases such as avian influenza, SARS, antibiotics resistance, and many other global Health issues. Other fields of interest are: climate change, global warming, geological and biological sciences. My activity consists mainly in collection and analysis of news, public services updates, confronting sources and making decision about what are the 'signals' of an impending crisis (an outbreak, for example). When a signal is detected, I follow traces during the entire course of an event. I started in 2005 my blog ''A TIME'S MEMORY'', now with more than 40,000 posts and 3 millions of web interactions. Subsequently I added an Italian Language blog, then discontinued because of very low traffic and interest. I contributed for seven years to a public forum (FluTrackers.com) in the midst of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014, I left the site to continue alone my data tracking job.