Blood-brain barrier function and biomarkers of central nervous system injury in rickettsial versus other neurological infections in Laos

Abstract

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) function and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers were measured in patients admitted to hospital with severe neurological infections in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (N = 66), including bacterial meningitis (BM; N = 9) or tuberculosis meningitis (TBM; N = 11), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV; N = 25), and rickettsial infections (N = 21) including murine and scrub typhus patients. The albumin index (AI) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels were significantly higher in BM and TBM than other diseases but were also raised in individual rickettsial patients. Total tau protein was significantly raised in the CSF of JEV patients. No differences were found between clinical or neurological symptoms, AI, or biomarker levels that allowed distinction between severe neurological involvement by Orientia tsutsugamushi compared with Rickettsia species.