National Park Technology Center’s (NPTC) medical professions classes hosted an event
to recognize World Encephalitis Day.
Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain that can be caused by parasites, bacteria,
mosquitoes, ticks, mammals with rabies, suppressed immune systems or genetics. There
are two types of encephalitis known as primary and secondary. Primary is an infectious
encephalitis that results from a fungus, virus or bacterium infection of the brain.
Secondary, or post infectious, encephalitis occurs because of the immune system responding
to a previous infection and mistakenly attacking the brain.
Students shared their research in hopes to bring awareness to the disease that has
affected approximately 250,000 patients in the USA in the last decade.