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World Encephalitis Day

Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain. It is caused either by an infection invading the brain (infectious encephalitis) or through the immune system attacking the brain in error (post-infectious or autoimmune encephalitis).

The official logo for World Encephalitis Day 2021

Anyone can be affected by the condition – regardless of age, sex or ethnicity – and approximately 500,000 adults and children are impacted by encephalitis. There are up to 6,000 cases in the UK each year.

Despite this, it is believed that up to 78% of the general public do not know what encephalitis is.  

To raise awareness of and understanding about encephalitis, the University is encouraging staff, doctoral researchers, students and campus partners to take part in the BrainWalk.

Run by the Encephalitis Society, anyone can take part in the series of activities that run-up to World Encephalitis Day on Monday 22 February. Not only will it keep your brain and body active, but BrainWalk is also an opportunity to bring communities together to share how we are feeling as we are all experiencing challenging times during lockdown.

To take part you’ll need to download the BrainWalk app from Google Play or the Apple App store onto your smart device. You can register your details and sync with your FitBit or your phone’s health data using the drop-down menu in the app. Select to join an existing team, enter ‘Team Lboro’ into the search and then when prompted enter the password Lboro2020.

Team Lboro is currently ranked 5th, so there’s still time to climb up the leader board with the help of a few new recruits to the group.

Last year, two colleagues from the University community shared their personal experiences of encephalitis, which you can read about in more detail here.

Furthermore, the fountain located outside of the Hazlerigg and Rutland buildings will be lit up red from Friday and throughout all of next week to raise awareness of World Encephalitis Day. More information on #Red4WED and how you can get involved can be found online here.‌

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