lymphocytic choriomeningitis

Related to lymphocytic choriomeningitis: lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM)

Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis



Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) is a viral infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord and of the cerebrospinal fluid.


Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection is relatively rare and recovery usually occurs spontaneously within a couple of weeks. Many cases are probably not even identified because the symptoms range from extremely mild to those resembling severe flu. A few patients develop symptoms of meningitis. In some rare cases, the LCM viral infection can spread throughout the central nervous system, and may even be fatal.

Causes and symptoms

LCM is caused by an arenavirus, which is an RNA virus and is a mild cousin in the family containing the much more threatening arenaviruses that cause hemmorrhagic fever. Humans acquire LCM virus from infected rodents by coming in contact with the animals or their excretions. Exposure to the virus is not as unlikely to occur as it seems, because the viral hosts can be common house mice and even pets, such as hamsters and chinchillas. Most cases of LCM occur in fall and winter, when mice seek warmth inside dwellings. Food and dust can become contaminated by the excretions of rodents infected with LCM virus. In 1997, French scientists alerted physicians to suspect LCM viral infection in people who had contact with Syrian hamsters.
The symptoms of LCM occur in two phases. The first (prodrome) stage can produce fever, chills, muscle aches, cough, and vomiting. In the second phase, characteristic meningitis symptoms of headache, stiff neck, listlessness, and nausea and vomiting may occur. In adults, complications are rare and recovery may even occur before the second phase.
The virus is not spread from person to person, except through pregnancy. LCM virus is one of the few viruses that can cross the placenta from mother to child during pregnancy and may be an underrecognized cause of congenital infection in newborns. Infection with cytomegalovirus, Toxoplasma gondii, or LCM virus can appear similar enough in infants to be confused when diagnosed. In cases that have been recognized among infants, LCM viral infection has a high mortality rate (about one-third of the babies studied died).

Key terms

Prodrome — Symptom(s) experienced prior to the onset of a disease. For example, visual disturbances may precede and signal the onset of a migraine headache.


LCM can be distinguished from bacterial meningitis by the history of prodrome symptoms and the period of time before meningitis symptoms begin, which is about 15-21 days for LCM.


No antiviral agents exist for LCM virus. Treatment consists of supporting the patient and treating the symptoms until the infection subsides, generally within a few weeks.


cerebral meningitis with lymphocytic infiltration of the choroid plexus.
lymphocytic choriomeningitis a form of viral meningitis caused by an arenavirus; it usually occurs during the fall and winter months in adults between the ages of 20 and 40.

lym·pho·cyt·ic cho·ri·o·men·in·gi·tis (LCM),

a form of viral meningitis that usually occurs in young adults during the fall and winter months. Caused by a virus carried by the common house mouse.
See also: lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus.

lymphocytic choriomeningitis

An aseptic meningitis of low morbidity caused by an arenavirus, transmitted through rodent excreta, affecting adults in winter, when rodents move indoors Clinical Biphasic fever with flu Sx, followed by meningitis with fever, headache, lymphocytosis in CSF, often with leukopenia and thrombocytopenia–which may be a hyperimmune response DiffDx Infectious mononucleosis, enterovirus, HZV R

lym·pho·cyt·ic chor·i·o·men·in·gi·tis

(lim'fō-sit'ik kōr'ē-ō-men'in-jī'tis)
See also: lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus

lymphocytic choriomeningitis

An acute viral MENINGITIS caused by an arenavirus, the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, spread by house mice.There is fever, aches and pains, a brief recovery, then a second stage with recurrenceof fever, headache and sometimes meningeal symptoms such as stiff neck. The condition is usually mild with complete recovery.
References in periodicals archive ?
Prevalence of antibodies to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus in blood donors in southeastern France.
Solid organ transplant--associated lymphocytic choriomeningitis, United States, 2011.
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection in organ transplant recipients--Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 2005.
S, small; GPC, glycoprotein; NP, nucleocapsid protein; nt, nucleotide; aa, amino acid; LCMV, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus; L, large segment.
Age distribution of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus serum antibody in Birmingham, Alabama: evidence of a decreased risk of infection.
High diversity and ancient common ancestry of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus.
Other possible causes of encephalitis (e.g., herpes simplex; arboviruses and enteroviruses; lymphocytic choriomeningitis; measles; and bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections [e.g., toxocariasis and cysticerc osis]) were excluded based on direct examination, culture, serology, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of blood and CSF.
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), a rodentborne arenavirus, causes inapparent infection in mice but can cause febrile illness, aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, and severe birth defects in humans ( ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/lcmv.htm) (1).
The Old World arenaviruses include the agents of Lassa fever and lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM).
CMV quantitative PCR and testing for lymphocytic choriomeningitis IgM and IgG were requested, but not obtained.
Additional serologic tests found no significant reactions to other arthropodborne and zoonotic pathogens, including New World arenaviruses, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, hantaviruses, other Bunyaviridae, Filoviridae, Flaviviridae, Rhabdoviridae, Togaviridae, spotted-fever-group and typhus-group rickettsia, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and Coxiella burnetii.