Marta Huertas is a clear example of improvement. The young woman, who now faces her life normally, has managed to overcome herpetic and post-herpetic encephalitis thanks to advances in science. The documentary ‘Look at fear’ tells her story.
The herpetic encephalitis is a weird illness (with an annual incidence of one case per 250,000-500,000 inhabitants in industrialized countries) that is commemorated worldwide on February 22.
But even more infrequent, unusual and serious is the postherpetic autoimmune encephalitis, an associated disorder that appears later in approximately one 25% of these cases.
This was precisely the position of Martha Huertasa young woman from Orihuela (Alicante) who, after six years of suffering, since 2016, has successfully overcome the disease and its subsequent complication, which she herself describes as “two diseases that have devastated her life and that of all people around you.”
Now, his story comes to light thanks to a documentary produced by Eucalyptus. ‘Look at fear’ It collects the entire evolution of the young woman, from her diagnosis and treatment, to the successful overcoming of the disease.
The documentary has the social endorsement of the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) and with the scientific endorsement of the Spanish Society of Pediatric Neurology (SENEP)and claims the lack of resources and the necessary investment in science and research in Spain.
The day that shook Marta’s life
At just 12 years old, Marta Huertas went to the ER on Friday, April 9, 2016, with seizures. A day that without a doubt, neither she nor her family will be able to erase from her mind, since she marked her lives forever.
After several weeks in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and numerous tests, Marta is diagnosed with herpetic encephalitis, a inflammation of the brain caused by an extremely serious and deadly infection.
From that moment on, the young woman began to follow an aggressive treatment that, however, did not completely control many symptoms.
“After an initial treatment of 21 days, Marta returns home better, but with erratic behavior and some strange mania,” he explains. Fuensanta Gil, mother the patient
And it is that, since then, Marta was no longer the same.
“I was very sad and depressed, and with a considerable increase in psychiatric disorders, behavioral disturbances, and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCDs),” says the mother.
a new relapse
Due to the numerous symptoms she was suffering from, Marta had to be admitted again. A very hard stage both in her life and in that of her parents and her sister.
For Alba HuertasMarta’s sister, the situation was especially hard, since she felt abandoned by the people who had always taken care of her.
Image of Marta Huertas taken from the documentaryThe light at the end of the tunnel
The first encephalitis that Marta suffered caused important cognitive sequelaewith the presence of brain damage that produced memory disturbancesin the capacity of attention and in the executive function (organize, plan, inhibition).
In addition, physical and cognitive alterations with significant behavioral disturbances continued to occur, as well as a regression of their abilities. A reality they did not understand.
But that the doctor Josep Dalmau, neurologist and ICREA researcher at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelonashe unraveled, giving Marta’s parents the answers they needed.
“Being able to contact and receive a response from the researcher who had discovered this type of disease was like winning the lottery,” he says. Kiko Huertas, Martha’s father
An expert in neuro-oncology, paraneoplastic syndromes and autoimmune encephalitis, Dr. Dalmau has discovered ten autoimmune diseases, called autoimmune encephalopathies, mediated by antibodies against brain proteins and receptors, including encephalitis due to antibodies against the NMDA receptor, according to the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu .
Marta was then sent to this maternal and child hospital in Barcelona after numerous medical visits and interventions, where her case could be oriented towards a new therapeutic approach.
“After the first session of the new treatment, Marta was already another girl,” recalls her mother excitedly.
The importance of research
As the experts explain in the documentary, “based on cases like Marta’s, the focus was placed on the fact that there is a percentage of patients (especially pediatrics) with herpetic encephalitis who, even having overcome the initial viral infection, experience a ‘second wave ‘symptomatic’, which resembles the disorders documented during the initial surge of symptoms caused by the primary virus but, however, that virus is no longer present in the body (has been cleared)”.
Thanks to this finding, it was possible to understand the case of Marta and develop treatments that mitigate and control the effects of the second wave of symptoms, “something that really is not easy,” admits the researcher.
The doctor Thaís Armangué, researcher at IDIBAPS-Hospital Clínic in Barcelona and head of Neuroimmunology at Hospital Sant Joan de Déudetails that “Marta’s immune system, trying to fight the virus, had promoted a response against her own brain.”
In this way, “he developed antibodies against the receptor NMDAgiving rise to postherpetic autoimmune encephalitis”, he adds.
That was the key reason why Marta had behavioral disorders, she could not issue a sentence or understand simple commands, in addition to being totally dependent.
Thanks to Marta’s story, important advances have been made in postherpetic autoimmune encephalitis, however, more research is still required.
“It is not a luxury, it is a necessity”, concludes the doctor.