Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33758161›Full record

ArticleThe American journal of case reports2021

"Double Trouble": Severe Meningoencephalitis Due to Borrelia burgdorferi and Powassan Virus Co-Infection Successfully Treated with Intravenous Immunoglobulin.

Igor Dumic, Bridget Glomski, Janki Patel, Terri Nordin, Charles W Nordstrom, Lawrence J Sprecher, Eric Niendorf, Amteshwar Singh, Kosana Simeunovic, Anand Subramanian and 2 more

Open access · hybridAbstract readCase Reports
In one paragraph

Article in The American journal of case reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 35% 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

11 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Powassan Virus Infections: A Systematic Review of Published Cases.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2023
    Review
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Powassan Virus Encephalitis.Infectious disease clinics of North America · 2022
    Review
  10. Human Co-Infections betweenPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022
    Review
  11. 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

12 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Igor DumicDepartment of Hospital Medicine, Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire, WI, USA.
Bridget GlomskiMayo Clinic Family Medicine Residency Program, Eau Claire, WI, USA.
Janki PatelDepartment of Infectious Disease, Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire, WI, USA.
Terri NordinMayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Rochester, MN, USA.
Charles W NordstromDepartment of Hospital Medicine, Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire, WI, USA.
Lawrence J SprecherDepartment of Hospital Medicine, Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire, WI, USA.
Eric NiendorfDepartment of Radiology, Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire, WI, USA.
Amteshwar SinghDepartment of Hospital Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Kosana SimeunovicDepartment of Hospital Medicine, Merit Health Wesley, Hattiesburg, MS, USA.
Anand SubramanianDepartment of Hospital Medicine, Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire, WI, USA.
Oladapo IgandanDepartment of Hospital Medicine, Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire, WI, USA.
Danilo VitorovicDepartment of Neurology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
Mayo Clinic Health System · USJohns Hopkins University · USUniversity of Vermont · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND Powassan virus (POWV) is an emerging tick-borne flavivirus transmitted to humans by ticks. While infection is asymptomatic in some people, others develop life-threatening encephalitis with high mortality rates. Co-infection between POWV and Borrelia burgdorferi is rare despite the fact that both pathogens can be transmitted through the same tick vector, Ixodes scapularis. It is unclear if co-infection leads to more severe clinical presentation and worse outcome. CASE REPORT A 76-year-old Wisconsin man was admitted for meningoencephalitis complicated by hypoxemic and hypercapnic respiratory failure requiring endotracheal intubation. The patient had no known tick bites but lived in a heavily wooded area. Extensive work-up for infectious, autoimmune, and paraneoplastic causes was positive for Borrelia burgdorferi and Powassan virus infection (POWV). Following treatment with ceftriaxone for neuroborreliosis and supportive care for POWV infection, the patient failed to improve. Intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) were started empirically, and the patient attained gradual neurological improvement and was successfully extubated. CONCLUSIONS Treatment for POWV infection is supportive, and at this time there are no approved targeted antivirals for this disease. At this time, it remains unclear if co-infection with 2 pathogens leads to a more severe clinical presentation and higher mortality. In the absence of contraindications, IVIG might be beneficial to patients with POWV infection who are not improving with supportive care.

Indexed as

Borrelia burgdorferiCoinfectionEncephalitis Viruses, Tick-BorneMeningoencephalitisAgedAnimalsHumansImmunoglobulins, IntravenousMaleImmunoglobulins, Intravenous

Identifiers

PMID33758161
PMCPMC8008974
OpenAlexW3129575190

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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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.