Brain on FIRES: Super Refractory Seizure in a 7 yr Old Boy

We present a 7 yr old boy afflicted with super-refractory seizure that responded poorly to antiepileptic drugs and sustained a long course of hospitalization and complications of high doses of medications as well as longstanding stay in hospital. The differential diagnoses were, fever-induced refractory epileptic encephalopathy (FIRES), and infectious and autoimmune encephalitis. However, work-ups had not revealed any evidence of any specific diagnosis, so we assumed that he was afflicted by viral infectious encephalitis as he had, fever, vomiting, and prodromal symptoms of infectious (most probably viral) disease prior to onset of the seizure attacks.