In multivariate analysis, including known risk factors for death (age, immunocompromised state, heart rate on admission, Glasgow Coma Scale score on admission, cranial nerve palsies on admission, seizures on admission, C-reactive protein in blood and leucocyte count in CSF),21 the predictive effect of autoantibodies against IFN-ω and IL-17A on death remained robust (adjusted OR 2.15 [95% CI 1.06–4.34; p = 0.033] and 3.06 [95% CI 1.35–6.92; p = 0.007]). Here, IL17A is linked to cranial nerve palsy.