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Post‐infectious central and peripheral nervous system diseases complicating Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection Report of three cases and review of the literature
Author(s) -
Pfausler B.,
Engelhardt K.,
Kampfl A.,
Spiss H.,
Taferner E.,
Schmutzhard E.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1046/j.1468-1331.2002.00350.x
Subject(s) - medicine , mycoplasma pneumoniae , peripheral nervous system , peripheral , central nervous system , immunology , intensive care medicine , pneumonia
Three patients with a central and peripheral nervous system disease complicating a Mycoplasma pneumoniae ( M. pn. ) infection are presented. Patient 1 suffered from bilateral optic neuritis as well as acute Guillain–Barré syndrome recovering after plasmapheresis. The two other patients suffered from severe haemorrhagic leukoencephalitis (Hurst) which only could be contained by aggressive decompressive craniectomy with duraplasty. All three illnesses were clearly shown to be associated with M. pn. infection. Our three patients represent the full scale of central nervous (CNS) (cerebral and myelitic) as well as peripheral nervous system (PNS) (GBS, optic neuritis) manifestation of a disease caused by the same pathogenetic – post‐infectious – mechanism; pathogenic CNS and PNS epitopes might be shared in post‐infectious neurological disease following M. pn. infection.