Loading...
Viral meningitis is common but often underrecognized. The authors of this review discuss the evolution of the common causes of viral meningitis in children and adolescents and the most appropriate diagnostic tools and therapies. Neonatal meningitis was not covered in the review.
Before measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) immunization became routine, mumps was the leading cause of viral meningitis (occurring in 15% of all mumps cases), and only half of patients with mumps meningitis had simultaneous parotitis. During the past 20 years, enteroviruses have surpassed the mumps virus as the most common cause of viral meningitis in children and adults, although infants and young children still have the highest prevalence of enteroviruses. A diagnosis of e…