Epidemiologic, clinical data, and pathogenesis of common viruses causing meningitis in children

Virus	Transmission	Age	Season	Associated syndromes	Frequency	Pathway to CNS
Piconavirus-enterovirus	Person to person: Oral-fecal Inhalation	All ages More common in children	Summer Fall	Encephalitis Myocarditis Neonatal sepsis Poliomyelitis	Common	Blood
Coxsackievirus Echovirus	Person to person: Oral-fecal Inhalation	All ages More common in children	Summer Fall	Encephalitis Myocarditis Neonatal sepsis Poliomyelitis	Common	Blood
Arboviruses	Direct inoculation by vectors: Mosquitoes Ticks	All ages	Summer Fall	Encephalitis	Common	Blood
Rabies	Direct population by bite of a rabid animal, transplant or inhalation	All ages	No seasonal pattern		Rare	Neuronal
Influenza	Person to person: Inhalation	All ages	Winter	Encephalitis	Infrequent	Unknown
Herpesviridae	Person to person		No seasonal pattern
Herpes simplex	Vertical or horizontal	More common in neonates		Meningo-encephalitis	Common	Blood Neuronal
Varicella-zoster	Respiratory	Any age following primary infection		Cerebellitus Encephalitis Myelitis	Infrequent
Epstein-Barr virus				Encephalitis Myelitis Guillain-Barre	Rare
Adenoviridae	Human		No seasonal pattern	Encephalitis	Rare	Blood
Adenovirus	Human		No seasonal pattern	Encephalitis	Rare	Blood

CNS: central nervous system.

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