title: Acute encephalitis complicating rubella.
abstract: During an epidemic of rubella in Hong Kong between October 1996 and June 1997, four male patients presented with rubella complicated by encephalitis, the symptoms of which started 1 to 5 days after the appearance of the rash characteristic of rubella. Two patients recovered completely within 1 week and one complained of a slight impairment of short-term memory. Severe cerebral oedema, and herniation across the brainstem and cerebellum developed in the fourth patient, who died 15 days later. The presence of serum immunoglobulin M antibody against rubella virus was demonstrated in all four patients; one patient also had immunoglobulin M antibody against rubella virus in his cerebrospinal fluid. No virus could be isolated during post-mortem examination of the fourth patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital, Kwai Chung, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: T MK
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: So
authors.forename: T Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Wong