> In my unsubstantiated opinion it's likely to be herpesviridae
Curious, would this be hard to verify? To a layman that sounds like something that would be easily detectable under a microscope using samples of brain.
Viruses aren't detectable under a regular light microscope. We have other assays that can detect certain viruses but they aren't completely accurate. And getting a sample of brain tissue from a living patient is quite hazardous.