Question:medium
Which of the following is the most common cause of meningoencephalitis in children?
Which of the following is the most common cause of meningoencephalitis in children?
Show Hint
Most common by frequency is enterovirus; HSV is the most common cause of fatal sporadic encephalitis.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Mumps
- Arbovirus
- HSV
- Enterovirus
Show Solution
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
The trick in this question is to separate frequency from severity. It asks which agent causes the largest number of meningoencephalitis cases in children, so the answer should be whichever virus shows up most often in routine practice rather than the one with the worst prognosis.
That distinction matters because the most feared organism, herpes simplex virus, is actually the textbook answer for the commonest cause of sporadic fatal encephalitis and the one that demands urgent acyclovir. But its absolute case numbers are small. The everyday workhorse of aseptic meningitis and meningoencephalitis in kids is the non polio enterovirus group, namely the coxsackie and echo viruses. They spread by the faeco oral route, surge in late summer and early autumn, and make up the overwhelming majority of laboratory confirmed cases.
The remaining options are regional or historical. Arboviral disease such as Japanese encephalitis drives serious seasonal outbreaks in endemic zones but is not the global leader. Mumps once contributed meaningfully, yet widespread $MMR$ immunization has pushed it down to a rare cause in vaccinated populations.
So when the metric is raw frequency rather than lethality, enterovirus wins.
\[\boxed{\text{Enterovirus}}\]
That distinction matters because the most feared organism, herpes simplex virus, is actually the textbook answer for the commonest cause of sporadic fatal encephalitis and the one that demands urgent acyclovir. But its absolute case numbers are small. The everyday workhorse of aseptic meningitis and meningoencephalitis in kids is the non polio enterovirus group, namely the coxsackie and echo viruses. They spread by the faeco oral route, surge in late summer and early autumn, and make up the overwhelming majority of laboratory confirmed cases.
The remaining options are regional or historical. Arboviral disease such as Japanese encephalitis drives serious seasonal outbreaks in endemic zones but is not the global leader. Mumps once contributed meaningfully, yet widespread $MMR$ immunization has pushed it down to a rare cause in vaccinated populations.
So when the metric is raw frequency rather than lethality, enterovirus wins.
\[\boxed{\text{Enterovirus}}\]
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