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Background/Objectives: The diagnosis of encephalitis is a challenging problem due to the heterogeneity of clinical presentations. The objective was to determine the etiology, clinical features, laboratory parameters, radiological findings, and in-hospital outcome of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) cases in Myanmar. Methods: A prospective descriptive study was conducted at the Neuromedical Ward of Yangon General Hospital from March to August 2023. Eighty-one AES cases were enrolled, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected. A Qiastat ME Panel was used to detect viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens. Results: Seventeen out of eighty-one (21%) cases were non-encephalitis with alternative definite diagnosis. Among the remaining 64 encephalitis cases, the exact infectious and immune etiologies were identified in 31 of 64 cases (48.4%); 26 of these (83.9%) were due to infectious causes and 5 (16.1%) were immune encephalitis. Among the infectious causes, six Herpes Simplex Virus-1-, one bacteriologically confirmed and seven probable Mycobacterium tuberculosis-, three Haemophilus influenzae-, two Streptococcus pneumoniae-, one Streptococcus pyogenes-, one Varicella-Zoster Virus (Ramsay Hunt Syndrome with meningoencephalitis)-, and two Cryptococcus neoformans-infected patients and rare causes such as Listeria monocytogenes, Burkholdelria cepacia, Sphingomonas paucimobilis, and Aspergillus were identified. One case was a dual infection with Haemophilus influenzae and Cryptococcus neformans. Abnormal protein levels and CSF pleocytosis were significantly higher among bacterial causes (p < 0.05). In total, 6.45% (2/31) of encephalitis patients with identified causes and 12.12% (4/33) of those without an identified organism had poor outcome. Conclusions: Herpes encephalitis and tuberculous meningoencepalitis were the commonest. This study highlighted that molecular testing with a multidisciplinary approach is required to ensure the right treatment on time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is a major health concern globally. Genomic epidemiology is an important tool to assess the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Several mutations have been reported by genome analysis of the SARS-CoV-2. In the present study, we investigated the mutational and phylogenetic analysis of 30 whole-genome sequences for the virus's genomic characteristics in the specimens collected in the early phase of the pandemic (March–June, 2020) and the sudden surge of local transmission (August–September, 2020). The four samples in the early phase of infection were B.6 lineage and located within a clade of the samples collected at the same time in Singapore and Malaysia, while five returnees by rescue flights showed the lineage B. 1.36.1 (three from India), B.1.1 (one from India) and B.1.80 (one from China). However, there was no evidence of local spread from these returnees. Further, all 19 whole-genome sequences collected in the sudden surge of local transmission showed lineage B.1.36. The surge of the second wave on SARS-CoV-2 infection was linked to the single-introduction of a variant (B.1.36) that may result from the strict restriction of international travel and containment efforts. These genomic data provides the useful information to disease control and prevention strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]