Inflammation of the brain, usually brought on by a viral infection, encephalitis currently poses a grave threat to patients around the world. With the migration of West Nile virus into North America, there is a greater awareness and corresponding need to understand, diagnose, and manage this illness. In Encephalitis: Diagnosis and Treatment, experts discuss advances in diagnostic tools, as well as therapeutic approaches that allow clinicians to better recognize and treat afflicted patients.

Individual chapters address the principal infectious and non-infectious causes of brain inflammation, including paraneoplastic encephalitides-an apparent autoimmune process in patients with malignancies-as well as acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a post-infectious disorder. The book addresses etiology, epidemiology, and specific issues in diagnosis, pathology, and treatment, including various laboratory methodologies, pathologic changes seen in the different disorders, and diagnosis and management of the seizures that occur quite frequently in these disorders.

With contributions from a group of international experts, the book provides a perspective on this disorder that is both broad and in-depth.