According to the GlobalID disease ontology, concept D240 denotes a source-reported aggregate of viral meningitis, encephalitis, or meningoencephalitis, with the explicit caveat that the precise definition boundaries remain series-specific to each contributing surveillance system [1]. The ontology entry defines only this non-additive classification scope and does not itself supply clinical, epidemiological, exposure, or prevention claims [1]. Concurrently, viral encephalitis is characterized in the biomedical literature as inflammation of the brain parenchyma caused by a virus, representing the most common type of encephalitis and frequently co-occurring with viral meningitis [3]. It manifests as a combination of fever, altered mentation, focal neurological signs, and seizures, driven by viral replication and the host inflammatory response within the central nervous system [2][3]. Within the surveillance aggregate, these overlapping clinical definitions of viral encephalitis—and related viral meningitis and meningoencephalitis syndromes—are pooled under a single source-specific classification boundary rather than a unified clinical case definition [1].
Disease overview
Viral meningoencephalitis surveillance
病毒性脑膜脑炎监测
Viral meningoencephalitis surveillance is a source-reported classification aggregate that combines viral meningitis, encephalitis, and meningoencephalitis under a single non-additive reporting category, defined in the GlobalID disease ontology as concept D240. The source boundaries that determine what individual clinical conditions are folded into this aggregate remain series-specific and are not further specified within the ontology entry itself [1]. Viral encephalitis is widely recognized as a potentially severe inflammatory CNS condition presenting with fever, altered mentation, and sometimes focal neurological signs or seizures, and it is the most common form of encephalitis, frequently co-occurring with viral meningitis [2][3]. This surveillance category exists to harmonize reporting where underlying case definitions differ across contributing sources rather than to describe a single etiologic disease entity [1][2].
Read the full clinical and epidemiological profile3
GlobalID source-data note: Norway's viral central-nervous-system infection category and Sweden's viral meningoencephalitis category are source-reported aggregates whose component etiologies are not separable in the published totals. They are retained for source-faithful analysis and should not be rolled into a single named pathogen.
- 1GlobalID Disease Ontology. GlobalID ontology concept D240: Viral meningoencephalitis surveillance [Internet]. cited 3 Sept 2026.Available from: https://github.com/xmusphlkg/globalID2/blob/development/configs/disease_ontology.json
- 2Matthews R et al. Viral encephalitis - update on pathogenesis and treatment. Curr Opin Neurol. 2025 Aug 1. PMID: 40466008. doi: 10.1097/WCO.0000000000001384.PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40466008/
- 3Wikipedia contributors. Viral encephalitis - Wikipedia [Internet]. Wikipedia. cited 12 Aug 2026.Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_encephalitis
Coverage
Reporting countries and regions
Trends by reporting country
Data access
Page dataset index with source links and update metadata.
Official sourcesAuthority, cadence, notes3
Norway FHI MSIS Statistics Bank
Norway
Norway FHI MSIS national monthly notifications from the official Allvis frontend API; adapter contract checks guard the unversioned endpoint.
Sweden Public Health Agency SmiNet
Sweden
Sweden SmiNet national monthly reported cases from the official Public Health Agency statistics pages; public release is enabled with closed-month publication and revisable recent-month refreshes.
Singapore CDA Weekly Infectious Diseases Bulletin
Singapore
Singapore national weekly case notifications, combining the official data.gov.sg 2012–2022 CSV history with CDA annual workbooks from 2023 onward; 2023 weekly PDFs are retained as a source fallback.