Listeria monocytogenes has tropism towards two immunologically "privileged" sites, the fetoplacental unit in pregnant women and the central nervous system (neurolisteriosis) in immunocompromised individuals. We report a case of neurolisteriosis in a previously asymptomatic pregnant woman from rural West Bengal, India, who presented with a subacute onset febrile illness with features of rhombencephalitis and a predominantly midline-cerebellopathy (slow and dysmetric saccades, florid downbeat nystagmus, horizontal nystagmus, and ataxia). With timely detection and the institution of prolonged intravenous antibiotic therapy, both the mother and the fetus were saved uneventfully.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Snakebite is a preventable yet often-neglected public health hazard with high chronic disability and mortality, mainly faced by rural communities in the tropics/subtropics. Endocrinological disorders following snakebite (especially Russell's viper in India) are notably underrecognized and can lead to remarkable morbidity, poor quality of life, and cardiovascular mortality. Anterior pituitary insufficiency has been the most common ailment following Russell's viper envenomation amid those endocrinological dysfunctions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPorphyrias are rare metabolic disorders caused by inherited or acquired enzymatic defects in the heme biosynthetic pathway. They are grouped into acute hepatic porphyrias and photocutaneous porphyrias. Acute intermittent porphyria, the most prevalent subtype of acute hepatic porphyrias, is caused by a mutation in the hydroxymethylbilane synthase gene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSnakebite is a life-threatening and often-neglected public health hazard with high chronic disability and mortality, mainly faced by rural communities in the tropics/subtropics. Stroke and neuromuscular paralysis are the most severe neurological complications. However, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis has rarely been reported among cerebrovascular complications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScrub typhus, an acute febrile infectious disease prevalent in the "Tsutsugamushi Triangle", is a mite-born rickettsial zoonosis, caused by . Although the clinical presentation is protean, it rarely causes abducens nerve palsy. We report a 14-year-old previously healthy Indian girl who presented with a recent onset right abducens nerve palsy and headache, but without fever and without the classic dermatological manifestation ("eschar") of the disease.
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