Tick-borne encephalitis is associated with low levels of interleukin-10 in cerebrospinal fluid

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic data, clinical course, and classification in patients (n=80) with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and other viral meningitis (non-TBE)

	TBE (n=44)	Non-TBE (n=36)
Females	23	21
Males	21	15
Median age range	41	34
	18–75	16–69
Clinical classification^1
Severe to moderate	21	3
Mild	23	33
Not recovered^2
At 6 weeks	35	22
At 1 year	16	7

¹The initial clinical presentation of the meningo-encephalitis at onset of the disease was classified as mild = primarily meningeal symptoms, moderate to severe = focal or multifocal encephalitic symptoms and/or more intense diffuse dysfunction of the CNS.

²All patients were followed for 1 year except one TBE patient who moved abroad. The residual symptoms were decreased memory and/or concentration, ataxia, tremor, dysphasia, spinal nerve, and cranial nerve (n-VIII) paresis.

Fig. 1.  IFN-γ- (u/ml) and IL-10- (pg/ml) in CSF and in serum in patients with TBE or aseptic meningo-encephalitis of other aetiology (non-TBE). Line plot: CSF and serum concentrations (geometric mean). Box plot: CSF concentrations (percentiles: 10, 25, 50, 75, and 90%). Normal upper limits (horizontal line): IFN-γ in the CSF < 1.0 u/ml and in serum ≤ 1.0 u/ml; IL-10 in the CSF ≤ 2.2 pg/ml and in serum ≤ 1.6 pg/ml.

Fig. 2.  Concentrations of IL-10 (pg/ml) at 10 days (range 7–18) after onset of meningo-encephalitis in patients with TBE (n=19). Icons: the central bar represents the mean of the group, the height represents 95% confidence interval and the width represents the sample size.