Flaviviruses as agents of childhood central nervous system infections in Brazil

AbstractFlaviviruses are agents of a major emerging human public health issue, and members of the Flavivirus genus have been associated with central nervous system (CNS) infections. In Brazil, a country endemic for some arboviruses, the most clinically relevant neurotropic flaviviruses include dengue virus and Zika virus. Flaviviruses cause diseases ranging from mild or subclinical infections to severe cases as CNS infections. There is a lack of data about the incidence of flaviviruses in the CNS of children in Brazil. In this review, we provide a general overview of several flaviviruses that cause CNS infections in Brazilian children and explore the importance of epidemiologic surveillance of CNS infections in cases of Flavivirus infections.