An immunocompromised person with history of seizures had an MRI that revealed a temporal lobe lesion. Brain biopsy results showed multinucleated giant cells with intranuclear inclusions. The most probable cause of the lesion is

Herpes simplex virus causes primary and recurrent disease. The typical skin lesion is a vesicle that contains virus paicles in serous fluid. Giant multinucleated cells are typically found at the base of the herpesvirus lesion. Encephalitis, which usually involves the temporal lobe, has a high moality rate. Severe neurologic sequelae are seen in surviving patients. Reference: Ananthanarayan and Paniker&;s Textbook of Microbiology Tenth edition