The infectious status of patients with optic neuritis of inflammatory and demyelinating etiologies

Purpose : to study the prevalence of various chronic infections, the frequency of their reactivation and characteristic associations of microorganisms in patients with optic neuritis of various etiologies. Material and methods . 13 patients with optic neuritis (ON) and 12 patients with ON and multiple sclerosis were tested for a broad range of infectious agents in their blood serum. Results . All patients were shown to have mixed infections; 64 % of them had an association of 4 or more infectious agents. The patients of both groups were infected with Epstein-Barr virus (100 %), Cytomegalovirus (92 %) and Herpex simplex viruses (92 %) types 1 and/or 2 with serological signs of their reactivation. The combination of Herpes virus reactivation, Toxoplasma and urogenital infection was more often detected in patients with demyelinating ON. In patients with multiple sclerosis, a mutual correlation was detected: the higher the degree of infection (combination of 5 or more pathogens), the lower the visual acuity at the onset of the disease (p < 0.05) and the less favourable the vision prognosis. Conclusion . Possibly, mixed infection may play an important role in the pathogenesis of ON, including that of demyelinating etiology, as a trigger or an aggravating factor.