AN INFECTIOUS ETIOLOGY OF BELLS-PALSY

A prospective clinical study was carried out from 1988 until 1990 on 3 8 consecutive patients with Bell's palsy at the Neurological Departmen t of Innsbruck University Hospital. The age range was between 16 and 8 8 years, the female:male ratio was 18:20. Serological methods were emp loyed to study the impact of infectious agents on the aetiology of thi s disease. 11 out of 38 cases (= 29%) were probably infectious in orig in, whereby 6 cases were due to Borrelia burgdorferi, 4 to Varicella z oster virus (VZV) and 1 to Herpes simplex virus (HSV), as determined b y elevation of antibody titre or presence of specific IgM. Patients wi th a significant serological finding were treated with ceftriaxon or t etracycline for borreliosis or with acyclovir for VZV or HSV infection . Altogether, in 36 of the 38 cases a full recovery was seen at the la st follow-up investigation.