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Introducción: Constantin von Economo reportó en 1917 múltiples casos de manifestaciones neurológicas secundarias a la pandemia de la gripe española, clasificándolos en tres grandes grupos: forma somnolienta-oftalmopléjica, mutismo y la hipercinética, con secuelas similares a la enfermedad de Parkinson. Objetivo: presentar un caso de reciente aparición de patología rara en Cali, Colombia con manejo adecuado en unidad de cuidados intensivos (UCI). Presentación del caso: paciente de 9 años con disminución de la fuerza en extremidades, disartria y somnolencia, que inició deterioro neurológico progresivo requiriendo manejo en UCI. El equipo multidisciplinario diagnosticó encefalitis letárgica e iniciaron manejo con plasmaféresis e inmunosupresión con mejoría significativa. Discusión y conclusiones: como la prevalencia es escasa, el diagnóstico exige un alto índice de sospecha como la ocurrencia de un cuadro infeccioso previo al inicio de los síntomas, ya que se considera una reacción autoinmune cruzada contra antígenos de la sustancia nigra. En algunos casos hay alteraciones en los estudios imagenológicos o en citoquímico de líquido cefalorraquídeo. El manejo con pulsos de metilprednisolona y filtración de plasma con plasmaféresis brinda mejoría significativa con disminución de las secuelas a futuro.

Introduction: In 1917, Constantin von Economo reported multiple cases of neurological manifestations secondary to the Spanish flu pandemic. He classified them into three main clinical forms: somnolent-ophthalmoplegic, mutism and hyperkinetic, causing sequelae resembling Parkinson ́s disease. Objective: to present a case of a recent appearance rare disease entity, in Cali Colombia, receiving appropriate management in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Case presentation: 9-year-old patient presenting with limb muscle weakness, dysarthria and somnolence, evidencing progressive neurological deterioration requiring admission to the ICU for management. A diagnosis of encephalitis lethargica (EL) was made by the attending multidisciplinary team and management with plasmapheresis and immunosuppression was started, obtaining significant improvement. Discussion and conclusions: as the prevalence is low, the diagnosis requires a high level of suspicion in cases presenting with infectious conditions prior to the development of symptoms, since it is considered an autoimmune cross-reaction against substantia nigra antigens. Alterations in brain imaging or in cerebrospinal fluid cytometry may be found in some cases. Management with methylprednisolone pulse therapy and filtration plasmapheresis provides significant improvement with a decrease in future sequelae.

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Encephalitis lethargica first appeared during World War 1, but reported cases gradually faded over the 1920s, and in the years following, cases were only sporadically reported. The clinical presentation was heterogeneous and typically included both acute and chronic phases. The acute phase was characterized by excessive sleepiness, disorders of ocular motility, fever, and movement disorders. On the other hand, the chronic phase was characterized by Parkinsonism, oculomotor abnormalities, involuntary movements, speech and respiratory abnormalities, and psychiatric manifestations. In Peru, Espejo-Tamayo reported 47 cases of the disease between 1919 and 1924, with an average mortality of 13%. He described three waves of the epidemic in Peru: that of 1919, with a predominance of the lethargic-paralytic syndrome; that of 1920-1921, characterized by the algic-myoclonic syndrome; and the wave that began in 1922, when the disease acquired purely striatum syndromes, as well as those associated with the lethargic-paralytic and myoclonic syndromes and mental manifestations. We summarize six cases of encephalitis lethargica reported in Peru from 1920 through 1940.

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Disease and medicine are found throughout Gabriel García Márquez's work. This article examines the insomnia plague described in the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude and performs a differential diagnosis exercise with conditions that affect both sleep and memory. The main finding is that the insomnia plague narrated by García Márquez, with its clinical manifestations, the sequence of symptoms, and its resolution, cannot be associated with any specific diagnosis. However, similarities to and differences from several clinical conditions are discussed, as well as the relation between the neurophysiologic phenomena of sleep and memory.

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Von Economo's encephalitis is a neuropsychiatric disorder of possible autoimmune origin, which affects basal ganglia. This reaction may occur secondary to infection by different viral or bacterial agents. Given that it appears after the acute episode has disappeared, molecular mimetism has been proposed to explain the autoimmune lesion. Several cases have been reported through time, but it was with the 1918 flu pandemic, known as the Spanish flu, that lethargic encephalitis reached epidemic levels with cases reported until 1923 in various countries. The Spanish flu pandemic appeared in Colombia at the end of 1918 in several cities but it affected especially Bogotá where the highest number of patients and deaths was reported. Our purpose with the present work was to commemorate the arrival of the Spanish flu to our country after one hundred years, as well as to reflect on its main complications, which included some lethargic encepahilitis cases.

La encefalitis letárgica de von Economo es un trastorno neuropsiquiátrico de posible origen autoinmunitario, en el cual se afectan los ganglios basales. Esta reacción puede ocurrir luego de una infección aguda por diversos agentes virales o bacterianos. Dado que aparece cuando ya se ha resuelto el cuadro agudo, se ha propuesto el mecanismo del mimetismo molecular para explicar la lesión autoinmunitaria. Se han reportado diversos casos a lo largo del tiempo, pero fue con la pandemia de influenza de 1918, conocida como la gripe española, que la encefalitis letárgica alcanzó niveles de epidemia, con casos reportados hasta 1923 en diversos países. La pandemia de la gripe española se extendió a Colombia durante los últimos meses de 1918 y afectó varias ciudades, principalmente Bogotá, donde se reportó el mayor número de enfermos y muertos. Con este trabajo se busca rememorar, cien años después, el ingreso de la gripe española a nuestro país y sus principales complicaciones, entre las que se describieron algunos casos de encefalitis letárgica.

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Lethargic encephalitis is a neurological illness that shows a wide range of symptoms and signs, including neurological and psychiatric spectrum. It presented in an epidemic way, following influaenza relapses. The last relapse started at the beginning of 20th century and it was deeply described by Constantin von Economo. The illness described first in Europe and North America, was described in many others countries including Chile. There were beautiful descriptions by Chilean physicians like Lea-Plaza, Tello, Iturra and Cienfuegos. Their works showed the complexity of the illness like European physicians did too. The etiology is still unknown; however growing evidence about autoinmune aetiology is gaining force with the use of actual medical technology. In this work, we show encephalitis lethargica, focusing in clinical picture, the beauty of medical descriptions that physicians did at this date.

TITLE: Encefalitis letargica. La epidemia en los albores de la neurologia.La encefalitis letargica es un cuadro neurologico con una variada gama de manifestaciones clinicas en el ambito neurologico y tambien en el psiquiatrico. El cuadro se ha presentado de manera epidemica en brotes que han seguido a los de la gripe. El ultimo brote acaecido a comienzos del siglo XX lo describio en profundidad Constantin von Economo. La epidemia notificada inicialmente en Europa y luego en Norteamerica se presento tambien en otras latitudes, incluyendo Chile. Asi, las descripciones de Lea-Plaza, Tello, Iturra, Cienfuegos y otros medicos chilenos dieron cuenta del cuadro en Chile con toda la complejidad que tambien tuvo en Europa. El origen sigue siendo un misterio, aunque la evidencia creciente de que fuera autoinmune gana fuerza con los hallazgos de la tecnologia medica actual. En este trabajo presentamos el cuadro, privilegiando la riqueza clinica y la belleza de las descripciones realizada por los medicos de la epoca en que esta enfermedad se presento.

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Lethargic encephalitis (LE) is a Central Nervous System disorder following an upper respiratory tract infection, characterized by sleep disturbances, clinical symptoms corresponding to basal ganglia involvement and in some cases, neuropsychiatric sequelae. We report a 18-year-old mole with a history of sinusitis treated with azithromycin, two weeks before, presenting with fever, headache, confusion and myoclonus. Urine analysis was positive for cannabis. Cerebro spinal fluid analysis showed mononuclear pleiocytosis (109xmm³) and an increase in protein concentration of l.6 g/dl. Forty eight hours after admission, the patient required mechanical ventilation and subsequently a status epilepticus appeared. Ten days later, fever, rigidity and resting tremor appeared. A magnetic resonance imaging showed hyperintensities in FLALR sequence in the right insular cortex. The patient continued with extreme rigidity, catatonia and mutism. Considering the possibility ofa LE, methyl prednisolone 1 g/day was administered for five consecutive days followed by prednisone 40 mg l day, observing a dramatic improvement of rigidity and tremors.

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Lethargic encephalitis (LE) is a Central Nervous System disorder following an upper respiratory tract infection, characterized by sleep disturbances, clinical symptoms corresponding to basal ganglia involvement and in some cases, neuropsychiatric sequelae. We report a 18-year-old mole with a history of sinusitis treated with azithromycin, two weeks before, presenting with fever, headache, confusion and myoclonus. Urine analysis was positive for cannabis. Cerebro spinal fluid analysis showed mononuclear pleiocytosis (109xmm³) and an increase in protein concentration ofl.6 g/dl. Forty eight hours after admission, the patient required mechanical ventilation and subsequently a status epilepticus appeared. Ten days later, fever, rigidity and resting tremor appeared. A magnetic resonance imaging showed hyperintensities in FLALR sequence in the right insular cortex. The patient continued with extreme rigidity, catatonia and mutism. Considering the possibility ofa LE, methyl prednisolone 1 g/day was administered for five consecutive days followed by prednisone 40 mgl day, observing a dramatic improvement of rigidity and tremors.

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Se analiza en forma restrospectiva la enfermedad neurológica que terminó prematuramente con la vida de Rosa Renard Artigas a los 55 años de edad. Ella fue conocida y admirada internacionalmente como una notable pianista y su muerte ocurrió 4 meses después de su triunfo presentación en el Carnegie Hall de Nueva York. El diagnóstico de encefalitis letárgica hecho por su médico personal aparece muy cuestionable, dados el comienzo subagudo y las manifestaciones neurológicas que son muy discordantes con lo descrito como signos característicos de la encefalitis letárgica por Von Economo. En cambio, la probabilidad de una posible enfermedad de Creutzfeldt-Jakob es altamente sugerente en este caso

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A 5-year-old boy, with a history of fever beginning 15 days after a vaccination for measles, developed a rigid-akinetic syndrome 3 days after the fever began. A spinal tap obtained 1 week after the onset of fever showed pleocytosis with a monocellular pattern. A CT scan of the head and EEG did not disclose any abnormality. An MRI performed 3 months after the event, however, showed clear-cut evidence of bilateral substantia nigra lesions, suggesting secondary gliosis. The response to levodopa was good, but adverse reactions appeared early. The child is now 7 years old. Bromocriptine, deprenyl, and levodopa have produced a remarkable improvement of the parkinsonian features.

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