Antipsychotic drugs may be needed for a short time period if behavior alternations are present. Given the possibility of complications developing from viral encephalitis, an interdisciplinary team consisting of the clinicians, therapists, rehabilitation specialists, and speech therapists is important in order to help patients. Prognosis
If treated, most individuals recover from viral encephalitis without long-term problems related to the illness. Mortality rates vary for those who do not receive treatment, for example being about 70% for herpes encephalitis but low for the La Crosse virus. Individuals who remain symptomatic after initial infection may have difficulty concentrating, behavior or speech disorders, or memory loss. Rarely, individuals may remain in a persistent vegetative state. The most common long-term complication of viral encephalitis is seizures that may occur in 10% to 20% of patients over several decades. These seizures are resistant to medical therapy. However, individuals who have unilateral mesial temporal lobe seizures after viral encephalitis have good results following neurosurgery. Prognoses related to specific viruses include:
For Eastern equine encephalitis, some children may experience seizures, severe intellectual disability, and various forms of paralysis. For Japanese encephalitis, extrapyramidal symptoms relating to motor function may remain. For St. Louis encephalitis, low blood sodium level and excess, unsuppressable release of antidiuretic hormone
For Western equine encephalitis, some children may experience seizures and behavioral changes.
Drug induced pigmentation may take on many different appearances, one of the most common being a change in the color, or pigmentation, of the skin. Presentation
Cause
Drug-induced pigmentation of the skin may occur as a consequence of drug administration, and the mechanism may be postinflammatory hyperpigmentation in some cases, but frequently is related to actual deposition of the offending drug in the skin. : 125–6 The incidence of this change varies, and depends on the type of medication involved. Some of the most common drugs involved are NSAIDs, antimalarials, psychotropic drugs, Amiodarone, cytotoxic drugs, tetracyclines, and heavy metals such as silver and gold (which must be ingested, not just worn). Pathophysiology
There are 4 possible mechanisms to how this change may occur:
Accumulation of melanin, the skin pigment
Accumulation of drug or one of its products under any layer of the skin (usually the dermis or epidermis)
Accumulation of iron throughout the dermis from drug-induced post-inflammatory changes
The synthesis of special pigments, under direct influence of the drug

See also
Skin lesion

References


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