Infectious and inflammatory myelopathies

Inflammatory and infectious myelopathies are common and often treatable. Infectious causes include viral, bacterial, mycobacterial, fungal, and parasitic agents. Noninfectious inflammatory myelopathies were previously often categorized as idiopathic transverse myelitis, but advances in neuroimaging and the discovery of a serum autoantibody marker, neuromyelitis optica immunoglobulin G (NMO-IgG), have allowed more specific diagnoses, such as multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica, to be made more confidently and at an earlier stage than previously possible. This chapter summarizes an approach to evaluation and management of infectious and inflammatory causes of acute and subacute myelitis and chronic progressive myelopathy.