[Neurological complications and therapy in herpesvirus diseases]

An overview on the diversity of neurologic complications of infections with different human herpes virus strains is given. Encephalitis, meningoencephalitis and the Guillain-Barré-syndrome are of major importance. Affection of single cranial nerves and mononeuropathies occur in a lesser frequency, while myelitis and isolated disturbances of the autonomic nervous system are rare complications. Therapeutically the application of acyclovir in herpes simplex and varicella zoster virus infections has given encouraging outlooks, whereas no convincing results exist with respect to cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus infections.