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Health officials are investigating after doctors in Nevada reported seeing a spike in a type of rare brain infection among children.
A Centers for Disease Control and Preventions investigation found 18 cases of the brain abscesses in Clark County, Nevada, in 2022. The average number of cases in years past was only around five, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.
“In my 20 years’ experience, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Dr. Taryn Bragg, a professor at the University of Utah who treated the cases, told CNN.
The rare infections, called intracranial abscess, are caused when bacteria, like Streptococcus intermedius, reach the brain. The bacteria is normally present in the nose and throat, but problems can occur when it reaches the brain.
Most of the Clark County children with the infections had been sick with a cold, investigators found.
They were hospitalized for around two weeks on average and more than 80% needed brain surgery to treat the infection, health officials said, which is not unusual with the pus-filled abscesses.
The children’s median age was 12 and three out of every four patients were boys. None died from the infections.
After a presentation on the Nevada cases at this week’s Epidemic Intelligence Service Conference, doctors from other parts of the country said they are seeing similar increases in brain abscesses in kids, CNN reported.
Sunil Sood, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in New York told the outlet he estimates they are seeing at least twice as many cases as usual, though they haven’t done a formal count.
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Why are more kids getting the brain abscesses?
There are still a lot of unknowns as to why doctors are seeing an increase in the brain infections in some parts of the country.
The Clark County cases all occurred in children who did not have previous neurosurgical procedures or head trauma, CDC investigators found.
Health officials continue to investigate and this week, investigators shared more information detailing how 2022 saw a spike in the infections.
“More research is needed to identify specific risk factors and causes of this rare condition, and surveillance should continue to understand future trends,” investigators from the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service said this week.
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Most kids had cold symptoms
Around two-thirds of parents investigators spoke to said their child had cold symptoms, but not COVID-19 before the brain infection.
In almost every case, kids would get an earache or a sinus infection, with a headache and fever, Bragg told CNN.
Brain abscesses can follow a very small percentage of sinus infections and inner ear infections among kids, Sood told CNN. Because more kids have been getting those types of infections in the past several months, that could be leading to an increase in the number of brain abscesses, he said.
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No spike in prior years
A CDC study published last fall found there was no national increase in the brain infections through May 2022.
But Bragg told CNN that the CDC data through May might not paint the full picture: later in 2022 and in 2023, cases of other infections among children, including flu and RSV, surged.
Physicians are continuing to explore the link between those illnesses and the brain abscesses and the CDC says they continue to closely monitor the situation.
Cautious parents can look out for sinus infections and if their child wakes up with a red, swollen eye, Sood told CNN. Headaches and pain above the eyebrows could also be a reason to seek medical attention, he said.
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