EBV infection as a cause of an otomastoiditis with facial nerve palsy in achild

Case report on a 15-month-old girl with acute bilateral otomastoiditis with facial nerve palsy in the course of an EBV infection. Although the initial mononucleosis blood test was negative the diagnosis was established by the presence of blastic transformed lymphocytes with immunoreaction for the la tent membrane protein of EBV, and the presence of EBV-mRNA in the majority of lymphocytes in the biopsy specimen. The occurrence of facial nerve palsy in the course of an EBV infection is r elatively rare but well known. The present case involved a viral otomastoiditis with a typical course, whi ch was complicated by facial nerve palsy after a few days of illness. A case of this kind has only once been described in an adult patient and ha s never been reported in a child.