Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33717727›Full record

ReviewCureus2021

Management of West Nile Encephalitis: An Uncommon Complication of West Nile Virus.

Ammar Alli, Juan Fernando Ortiz, Adam Atoot, Ali Atoot, Paul W Millhouse

Open access · diamondAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Cureus, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
16citing papers in PubMed
3.5field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

16 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Plant-Based Systems for Producing Therapeutic Proteins: Current Status and Future Prospects.BioDrugs : clinical immunotherapeutics, biopharmaceuticals and gene therapy · 2026
    Review
  2. Review
  3. A thousand faces of West Nile virus neuroinvasive disease: a consecutive case series in Southern Italy during summer 2025.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026
    Article
  4. West Nile virus unmasked: from gene variability to future challenges.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Development of Antibody-Based Therapeutics Against West Nile Virus in Plants.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2023
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Catastrophic Case of West Nile Virus Rhombencephalitis in AIDS.Journal of investigative medicine high impact case reports
    Article
  16. Acute neurologic emerging flaviviruses.Therapeutic advances in infectious disease
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.

Ammar AlliInternal Medicine, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, ESP.
Juan Fernando OrtizNeurology, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, ECU.
Adam AtootInternal Medicine, Palisades Medical Center, North Bergen, USA.
Ali AtootAnesthesiology, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, USA.
Paul W MillhouseGeneral Practice, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, USA.
Hackensack University Medical Center · USCalifornia Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences and Psychology (United States) · USDrexel University · USHospital Del Mar · ES

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

West Nile virus disease (WNVD) is a mosquito-borne disease that affects the meninges and central nervous system, causing West Nile virus (WNV) encephalitis, a debilitating, life-threatening condition, especially in the elderly. While there is a lot of research discussing different aspects of the disease, the treatment is mainly unknown. We conducted a literature review to explore the wide variety of treatment options that consolidate the knowledge about the most recent management of WNV encephalitis. We did a combined advanced search and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) search on PubMed. Inclusion criteria included papers written in the English language and human subjects research for the past 25 years. We initially gather 110 papers, and after applying the inclusion/exclusion criteria, we end up with 30 articles for the paper's discussion. This review aims to provide clinicians with an overview of the latest approach in treating and managing hospitalized WNVD patients. It discusses case reports and the outcome of different treatment regimens done in vitro and in vivo. The study discusses all the advancements in treatment and prophylaxis and compares their effectiveness. However, more research is warranted to gain further insight to develop a single guideline for the management of this disease. This review discusses the following treatment modalities: ribavirin, interferon-alpha, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), and other less-used drugs. More studies about ribavirin are needed to know if the drug is useful for WNV encephalitis. Interferon-alpha has been shown to have both protective and disease limiting properties. At the moment, there are no guidelines for the treatment of WNV encephalitis, nor is there a single Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug. For the time being, IVIG offers the best results in treating WNV encephalitis.

Indexed as

neuroinvasive west nile virus

Identifiers

PMID33717727
PMCPMC7939534
OpenAlexW3126692358

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.