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2-year-old girl battling encephalitis
By JENNIFER LIBERTO Anna Marie Eliopoulos knows a lot about what a brain looks like these days. Over the last two weeks, she has seen a slew of MRIs, with eyes peeled for a growing solid white patch, which means her 2-year-old granddaughter is getting worse. She has watched Krista Marie Eliopoulos go from being a bright, happy and active little girl to a floppy doll within 48 hours. And now Krista is fighting for her life. The Spring Hill girl has encephalitis, said Ann Miller, spokeswoman for All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. Doctors don't know why. Krista has been in the hospital for two weeks and was in guarded condition on Thursday evening. The encephalitis is not caused by West Nile virus, Miller said. "They don't know what's causing it, and they may never know," Miller said. Anna Marie Eliopoulos first noticed Krista had lost her spark after her mother dropped her off to play on Friday, Aug. 2. Eliopoulos gave her granddaughter Advil for a fever and kept an eye on her. Over that weekend, Krista grew lethargic and vomited, Anna Eliopoulos said. That Monday, her pediatrician prescribed an antibiotic and sent her home, she said. Later that night, the girl's fever spiked again, and her parents took her to the Oak Hill Hospital emergency room about 3 a.m. Tuesday, Eliopoulos said. Oak Hill immediately sent her to All Children's in an ambulance, she said. "She's now been poked, prodded, spinal-tapped, cat-scanned, MRI'd, and has blood work every day," said Eliopoulos, who drives down to St. Petersburg to take a shift on the daily family vigil by the little girl's bedside. "We can't get any answers." Encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, is not a disease by itself, but is a reaction caused by either an infection or more commonly, a virus, said Juan Dumois, a pediatrician of infectious disease at All Children's Hospital. Hundreds of possible viruses can cause encephalitis, from herpes simplex virus, which is common and treatable, to a group of difficult-to-cure, mosquito-borne viruses called arbo viruses, which includes West Nile, Dumois said. Doctors ruled out West Nile over the weekend. Only one human case of West Nile has been identified so far this year in Florida. All Children's last encephalitis case was caused by an arbo virus called Eastern Equine, found in a child who survived earlier this summer. Doctors have treated Krista's encephalitis as if it were caused by both bacteria and a virus. She has not responded positively to anything. In fact, she has grown less responsive in the two weeks she has been there. She lies in bed with her eyes open, occasionally responding with movement. "We don't know if she's seeing us or not, we don't know if she's hearing us or not, there's no way to tell," Eliopoulos said. Doctors say she is having myelin breakdown in her brain, as evidenced by the white patch on the MRI, Eliopoulos said. Myelin protein is the waxy coating that insulates the nerves in the brain and helps transmit impulses faster within the brain, Dumois said. Doctors have warned the family that myelin breakdown can cause neurological problems in encephalitis patients. So far this year, 17 cases of non-fatal encephalitis have been reported in Florida, excluding Krista, said April Crowley, state Department of Health spokeswoman. Last year, 29 cases of encephalitis were reported, nine fatal. No cases of encephalitis have occurred in Hernando County in the last 21/2 years, said county health department nursing director Deborah LeCompte. This case has not been reported to Hernando County yet, and likely will not be reported officially until the type and the origin are determined, LeCompte said. Doctors said there is no reason residents should be concerned until the cause is determined. But Dumois said he is warning his patients to use mosquito repellents with DEET as a precaution against mosquito-borne viruses.
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From today's Hernando Times Letters |
