MR Findings in Murray Valley Encephalitis

a flavivirus related to West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis viruses. We report a case of MVE resulting in quadriplegia and respiratory failure. MR imaging demonstrated tha-lamic hyperintensity on T2-weighted images, with similar involvement of the red nucleus, substantia nigra, and cer-vical cord. These findings preceded serologic diagnosis and are similar to those of Japanese encephalitis. In the appro-priate setting, thalamic T2 hyperintensity is suggestive of flavivirus infection. Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) is caused by infection with a flavivirus belonging to the Japanese encephalitis (JE) antigenic complex, which also in-cludes St. Louis encephalitis (StLE) and West Nile (WN) virus. The natural transmission cycle of the JE group involves infection of a mosquito vector alter