TY - JOUR T1 - Encephalitis in children JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood JO - Arch Dis Child SP - 150 LP - 161 DO - 10.1136/archdischild-2011-300100 VL - 97 IS - 2 AU - Clara Thompson AU - Rachel Kneen AU - Andrew Riordan AU - Dominic Kelly AU - Andrew J Pollard Y1 - 2012/02/01 UR - http://adc.bmj.com/content/97/2/150.abstract N2 - Encephalitis is an uncommon but potentially devastating neurological syndrome with different aetiologies including direct central nervous system infection with different agents (most commonly viral) and those mediated by the immune system. Whilst there have been several recent publications and guidelines on the management of bacterial central nervous system infections in adults and children, viral infections have been relatively neglected. Guidelines have been published for adults with encephalitis (www.liv.ac.uk/braininfections) but none exist for children. For these reasons, we have reviewed the literature on encephalitis and have formulated a suggested management strategy for children with suspected, clinically diagnosed and proven encephalitis. We have excluded neonates, as encephalitis in this age group has different clinical features and is beyond the scope of this review. ER -