EPIDURAL ABSCESS HANS-WALTER PFISTER, MATTHIAS KLEIN, ALLAN R. TUNKEL, AND W. MICHAEL SCHELD SPINAL EPIDURAL ABSCESS First described by the Italian anatomist Morgagni in the eighteenth century, a spinal epidural…

TETANUS ITZHAK BROOK Tetanus is a serious but preventable nervous system disorder caused by the toxin produced by Clostridium tetani. Although the disease is rare in the industrial nations, it…

RICKETTSIOSES, ANAPLASMOSES, AND Q FEVER DIDIER RAOULT Bacteria in the order Rickettsiales are gram-negative microorganisms that grow in association with eukaryotic cells. They do not grow in axenic media but…

TRYPANOSOMIASIS LOUIS V. KIRCHHOFF Trypanosomes are single-celled protozoan parasites that have an amazingly broad distribution in nature. The diversity and wide geographic range of the animals infected by trypanosomes make…

COMPLICATIONS OF INFECTIVE ENDOCARDITIS STEFANO GIULIERI, RETO ANTOINE MEULI, AND MATTHIAS CAVASSINI Central nervous system (CNS) complications of infective endocarditis (IE) occur in about 30% of patients, with the highest…

TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS DOROTHEE HEEMSKERK, JEREMY FARRAR, AND MAXINE CAWS Yea, I have known inflammations, Imposthumes, whelks, scirrhus Tumors growing to the Meninges, with the Skull, and other Diseases of an…

HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS RICHARD J. WHITLEY Eight herpesviruses routinely cause human disease. The current classification of herpesviruses into subfamilies serves the purposes of identifying evolutionary relatedness and summarizing unique properties…

HELMINTHIC INFECTIONS JOSE A. SERPA, WON K. CHUNG, AND A. CLINTON WHITE, JR. The helminths include a broad range of organisms that are common human parasites. There are three major…

SUBDURAL EMPYEMA AND SUPPURATIVE INTRACRANIAL PHLEBITIS BARRY J. HARTMAN AND DAVID C. HELFGOTT CRANIAL SUBDURAL EMPYEMA Empyema is an important form of intracranial suppuration, accounting for 15% to 25% of…

NEUROBORRELIOSIS: NERVOUS SYSTEM INVOLVEMENT WITH BORRELIA SPECIES JOHN J. HALPERIN, SVEN BERGSTRÖM, AND GARY P. WORMSER Relapsing fever and Lyme disease, infections most commonly acquired through bites of hematophagous arthropods,…