The Liverpool Neurological Infectious Diseases Course (or NeuroID) is an annual two-day course aimed at medical professionals and students with an interest in neurological infectious diseases. [1] The course is organised by the Liverpool Brain Infections Group, a division of the Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with the Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Alder Hey Children’s NHS Trust, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and is chaired by the neurologist Tom Solomon. It takes place during May at the historic Liverpool Medical Institution, in Liverpool, UK. A variety of both national and international speakers contribute to a programme which covers clinical aspects of common central nervous system infections such as meningitis and encephalitis, as well as rarer neurological infections and talks on recent advances in related research. [2] [3] The course is accredited by the UK Royal College of Physicians, and attracts delegates from many countries worldwide. [4]
The Richard T. Johnson lecture (named for the physician and researcher in neurological infection) is given by an expert in a chosen subfield and focuses on research. Previous speakers include: [5]
2015: Professor Avindra Nath, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, USA – Diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in neurological infections
2014: Professor Israel Steiner, Rabin Medical Center, Pentah Tikva, Israel – Para-infectious disorders of the nervous system
2013: Professor Elizabeth Molyneux, OBE and Professor Malcolm Molyneux, OBE, Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme– CNS infections in Malawian children
2012: Professor Scott Letendre, University of California, San Diego, USA – Neurocognitive complications of HIV
2011: Professor Angela Vincent, University of Oxford, UK – Antibody-mediated encephalitis
2010: Professor Richard Whitley, University of Alabama, USA – Viral encephalitis; advances and new frontiers
2009: Professor Mike Levin, Imperial College, London – Can better understanding of inflammatory mechanisms lead to improved outcome in bacterial meningitis?
2008: Dr Susan O’Connell, Southampton General Hospital, UK – Lyme neuroborreliosis – the greatest controversy of the day
2007: Professor Peter Kennedy, University of Glasgow, UK – Varicella Zoster Virus infections of the nervous system
The course has been reviewed positively by the British Medical Journal [4] and in Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation [3]
Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain. The severity can be variable with symptoms including reduction or alteration in consciousness, headache, fever, confusion, a stiff neck, and vomiting. Complications may include seizures, hallucinations, trouble speaking, memory problems, and problems with hearing.
Viral meningitis, also known as aseptic meningitis, is a type of meningitis due to a viral infection. It results in inflammation of the meninges. Symptoms commonly include headache, fever, sensitivity to light and neck stiffness.
The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) is a post-graduate teaching and research institution based in Liverpool, England, established in 1898. It was the first institution in the world dedicated to the study of tropical medicine. LSTM conducts research in areas such as malaria and insect-borne diseases and operates as a higher education institution with degree-awarding powers.
Meningoencephalitis, also known as herpes meningoencephalitis, is a medical condition that simultaneously resembles both meningitis, which is an infection or inflammation of the meninges, and encephalitis, which is an infection or inflammation of the brain tissue.
The University of Sheffield Medical School is a medical school based at the University of Sheffield in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The school traces its history back to at least 1828. It operated independently until its merger with Firth College and Sheffield Technical School in 1897, and is now an integral part of Sheffield's Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health.
The central nervous system (CNS) controls most of the functions of the body and mind. It comprises the brain, spinal cord and the nerve fibers that branch off to all parts of the body. The CNS viral diseases are caused by viruses that attack the CNS. Existing and emerging viral CNS infections are major sources of human morbidity and mortality.
Nervous system diseases, also known as nervous system or neurological disorders, refers to a small class of medical conditions affecting the nervous system. This category encompasses over 600 different conditions, including genetic disorders, infections, cancer, seizure disorders, conditions with a cardiovascular origin, congenital and developmental disorders, and degenerative disorders.
Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasionally photophobia.
Herpes meningitis is inflammation of the meninges, the protective tissues surrounding the spinal cord and brain, due to infection from viruses of the Herpesviridae family - the most common amongst adults is HSV-2. Symptoms are self-limiting over 2 weeks with severe headache, nausea, vomiting, neck-stiffness, and photophobia. Herpes meningitis can cause Mollaret's meningitis, a form of recurrent meningitis. Lumbar puncture with cerebrospinal fluid results demonstrating aseptic meningitis pattern is necessary for diagnosis and polymerase chain reaction is used to detect viral presence. Although symptoms are self-limiting, treatment with antiviral medication may be recommended to prevent progression to Herpes Meningoencephalitis.
Richard T. Johnson was a physician and scientist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Johnson was a faculty member in the Department of Neurology since its inception in 1969 and was the former head of the department. His research into the effects of viruses on the central nervous system has been published in over 300 scientific articles, and Johnson was both a journal and book editor and the author of an influential textbook, Viral Infections of the Nervous System.
Neurovirology is an interdisciplinary field which represents a melding of clinical neuroscience, virology, immunology, and molecular biology. The main focus of the field is to study viruses capable of infecting the nervous system. In addition to this, the field studies the use of viruses to trace neuroanatomical pathways, for gene therapy, and to eliminate detrimental populations of neural cells.
Avindra "Avi" Nath, is a physician-scientist who specializes in neuroimmunology. Nath is a senior investigator, and intramural clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States. At NINDS, Nath also leads the Section of Infections of the Nervous System and plans to institute a translational research center. He previously served in several research and administrative positions at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The Faculty of Medicine is the academic centre for medical and clinical research and teaching at Imperial College London. It contains the Imperial College School of Medicine, which is the college's undergraduate medical school.
Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis is a rare inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system, first described by Edwin Bickerstaff in 1951. It may also affect the peripheral nervous system, and has features in common with both Miller Fisher syndrome and Guillain–Barré syndrome.
Thomas Solomon is Professor of Neurology at the University of Liverpool, director of The Pandemic Institute and director of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections. He is also vice president (international) of the Academy of Medical Sciences. and Academic Vice President at the Royal College of Physicians.
Igor Koralnik is an American physician, neurologist and scientist. He is one of the first physicians to study the neurologic complications caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and is a leading researcher in the investigation of the polyomavirus JC, which causes progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a disease of the central nervous system that occurs in immunosuppressed individuals.
Alison Helen Holmes is a British infectious diseases specialist, who is a professor at Imperial College London and the University of Liverpool. Holmes serves as Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance and Consultant at Hammersmith Hospital. Holmes is on the Executive Committee of the International Society of Infectious Diseases, and she serves on a variety of World Health Organization (WHO) expert groups related to antimicrobial use, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), infection prevention and sepsis. Her research considers how to mitigate antimicrobial resistance.
Ava Easton is a health scientist and researcher who specialises in encephalitis, acquired brain injury and narrative medicine, and is considered a world expert in her field of Encephalitis patient outcomes and quality of life. She is the current Chief Executive of The Encephalitis Society, a non-profit organisation which provides support and resources for those affected by the neurological disease of Encephalitis, and collaborates with various organisations on research into the disease.
Professor Patrick Francis Chinnery, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci, is a neurologist, clinician scientist, and Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow based in the Medical Research Council Mitochondrial Biology Unit and the University of Cambridge, where he is also professor of neurology and head of the department of clinical neurosciences.
Guy Edward Thwaites is a British professor of infectious diseases at the University of Oxford, and director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. His focus is on severe bacterial infections, including meningitis and Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection, and tuberculosis. He is a former first-class cricketer.