According to reports, at least 500,000 children around the world suffer from encephalitis every year, with an average of one case per minute. February 22, 2024 is the 11th "World Encephalitis Day", and the Third Hospital of Sun Yat-sen held a "World Encephalitis Day" free clinic activity in the outpatient hall of Tianhe Campus in the morning of the same day. Professor Peng Fuhua, deputy director of the Department of Neurology of the Third Hospital of Sun Yat-sen, popularized the prevention and treatment of encephalitis to the masses on the spot.
Encephalitis has a high mortality and disability rate, and survivors may also be left with brain damage, resulting in epilepsy, fatigue, cognitive decline, personality disorders, etc. "Recently, there has been an increase in the number of patients with fever and cold, and we need to be alert to the hidden risk of encephalitis. Professor Peng Fuhua introduced that some bacteria and viruses will flow to the blood after infecting the lungs after entering the human body through the respiratory tract or digestive tract, and then cause encephalitis; In addition, some viruses (enterovirus, arbovirus, herpesvirus, etc.) are brain-trophilic and cause disease through direct infection and indirect immune damage through the blood-brain barrier.
At the scene of the free clinic, Peng Fuhua introduced that encephalitis is a kind of brain inflammatory disease caused by infection, immunity and other reasons, and it is also one of the common acute and critical diseases of the nervous system. Encephalitis includes infectious encephalitis (pathogens include viruses, bacteria, tuberculosis, fungi, parasites, etc.) and non-infectious encephalitis (mainly autoimmune encephalitis, the causes include drugs, malignant tumors, benign tumors, autoimmune diseases, etc.). The incidence is not limited by age, sex or ethnicity, and all people can suffer from encephalitis, with an annual incidence of about 5-8 100,000 people.
But if it can be detected early, most encephalitis can be **. Peng Fuhua pointed out that once there is a manifestation of suspected encephalitis, it is necessary to seek medical attention immediately and immediately start the diagnosis of advanced science (etiology or autoimmune antibody testing), which can achieve the purpose of accurate diagnosis and treatment and avoid delaying diagnosis and treatment. For patients, lumbar puncture is the most important examination and diagnostic method, due to the existence of the blood-brain barrier, general blood tests can not find brain problems, so lumbar puncture is performed to check cerebrospinal fluid, and patients also need to do electroencephalogram, CT, MRI and other examinations.
Peng Fuhua said that he hoped to popularize the knowledge of encephalitis prevention and treatment to the masses through this free clinic activity. "I hope that the masses will not be afraid of lumbar puncture and other examination methods. We do a lot of lumbar punctures every day, which is a very safe test. Peng Fuhua said.
The incidence of encephalitis is high in spring, and 4 points recommend that strengthening immunity can reduce the infection rate.
At present, it is a rainy and humid spring, and the activity of various pathogenic microorganisms can easily lead to infection, which is the high incidence period of encephalitis. It is necessary to pay attention to improving the body's immunity and reducing infections to reduce the incidence of encephalitis, which can be done from the following four aspects:
1. Vaccination, vaccines that can be vaccinated to prevent encephalitis include influenza vaccine, mumps vaccine, measles vaccine, etc.;
2. Eat a balanced diet, pay attention to not eating raw or semi-raw snails in daily life, not eating lettuce, not drinking raw water, and washing hands fully after contact;
3. Strengthen physical exercise, especially in the current alternation of winter and spring, the weather is changeable and hot and cold, and more exercise should be done to enhance physical fitness;
4. Work and rest should be rhythmic, stay up late for a long time, so that the body is in a state of overwork, and the body is prone to chronic inflammation, which will induce autoimmune diseases and be easily infected with encephalitis.