Chronic enteroviral meningoencephalitis in a patient on rituximab for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis: A case report and brief literature review

Abstract Enteroviruses are RNA viruses within the Picornaviridae family. Enteroviruses derive their name from the way they are typically transmitted via the intestinal tract. They commonly infect millions of people every year and often do not cause severe disease in immunocompetent patients with few exceptions. Aseptic meningitis is a classic manifestation and is usually self-limited, however, can lead to severe neurological complications in an immunocompromised individual. It has been well-described that patients with hypogammaglobulinemia are predisposed to developing chronic enteroviral meningoencephalitis [ 1 ]. This is the first reported case of enteroviral meningoencephalitis in a patient being treated for psoriatic arthritis with rituximab. Here we describe a 46-year-old female who presented with altered mental status, fever, and myalgia. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of her cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) confirmed the presence of enterovirus. In the immunocompromised patient with encephalopathy, it is important to consider an enteroviral infection. This case adds to the present body of knowledge about enteroviral infections in immunocompromised hosts.