We present the clinical and laboratory manifestations of encephalitis following measles in six patients which were diagnosed during the epidemics that occurred in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1997. We performed retrospective case analysis of the six patients diagnosed as having encephalitis due to measles. Encephalitis was diagnosed based on clinical grounds and on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) alterations. All the cases were serologically confirmed.Of 467 patients with measles who presented themselves for medical care at the Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas six were diagnosed with encephalitis. Patient's age was 2 months to 28 years old. The most frequent symptoms were drowsiness and nuchal rigidity. CSF showed an increased of white cell count in all cases. Four patients were admitted to the intensive care unit. Two of them required mechanical ventilation. In only two patients did the computerized tomography show abnormalities. All showed good recovery without sequelae.
measles; meningoencephalitis; encephalitis; meningitis
