All Posts Tagged With: "facial palsy"

Bells Palsy and Lyme Neuroborreliosis

Linda’s Comment:   Bell’s palsy and Lyme neuroborreliosis are the two most common diagnoses in patients with peripheral facial palsy in areas endemic for Borrelia burgdorferi.\

Excerpt:

CONCLUSIONS: We found that the time of the year, associated neurological
symptoms and mononuclear pleocytosis were strong predictive factors for
Lyme neuroborreliosis as a cause of peripheral facial palsy in an area
endemic for Borrelia.

Cerebrospinal fluid in adults with Lyme

Excerpt:

In acute LNB, all
patients had elevated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leukocyte counts. In
contrast to infections by other bacteria, CSF lactate was lower than 3.5
mmol/l in all but 5 patients. The CSF findings did not differ between
polyradiculoneuritis, facial palsy, and meningitis. The CSF in LNB
patients strongly differed from CSF in VM patients with respect to
protein concentration and the CSF/serum albumin quotient.

Lyme Neuroborreliosis: Aetiology and Diagnosis

Full article: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=20455197&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

BACKGROUND: Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) is the second most common
manifestation of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s. l.)
infection in Europe. LNB is difficult to differentiate from other
aetiologies of aseptic meningitis. Diagnostic criteria for LNB in
children are not established. Therfore, based on the epidemiology
of LNB in children from Tyrol, the aim of our study was to point
out the necessity of a clear definition of pediatric LNB to avoid
underdiagnosis and overtreatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All
medical charts of patients presented with acute peripheral facial
palsy from January 2002 to December 2005 were reviewed. The
patients were rediagnosed according to the criteria of the German
Society of Neurology (DGN). RESULTS: We identified 66 patients
with peripheral facial palsy. 30 children were handled as B.
burgdorferi s. l.
infection.

Neuroborreliosis – an epidemiological, clinical and health economical s

Neuroborreliosis – an epidemiological, clinical and health economical study from an endemic area in the south-east of Sweden.

Excerpt:

Department of Infectious Diseases, Ryhov County Hospital, Jönköping, Sweden.

We studied retrospectively the medical records of all patients diagnosed with neuroborreliosis (NB) by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis in Jönköping County, Sweden, during 2000-2005 (n=150). The number of NB cases increased from 5 to 10/100,000 inhabitants/year. In 17% of the patients, Borrelia-antibodies were found in CSF but not in serum at the time of diagnosis. Facial palsy, headache and fever were frequent manifestations in children, whereas unspecific muscle and joint pain were the most commonly reported symptoms in older patients.