Otosyphilis: A rare cause of acute bilateral sensorineural hearing loss in a HIV-negative patient.

Bilateral acute hearing loss is rare, and the aetiology is poorly defined. Less common treatable pathologies such as otosyphilis must be part of the differential diagnosis and should be actively excluded. We present a case of a 23-year-old woman who developed acute bilateral hearing loss due to otosyphilis, confirmed on audiometry and laboratory tests.

Epidemiology of acute spinal cord injuries in the Groote Schuur Hospital Acute Spinal Cord Injury (GSH ASCI) Unit, Cape Town, South Africa, over the past 11 years.

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is devastating to both patient and society, with acute management and ongoing care being extremely expensive. Few epidemiological data are available on SCIs in South Africa (SA).

Objectives: To identify the epidemiological profile of SCI patients at Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH), Cape Town, SA, and identify seasonal trends and peak periods.