Acute transverse myelitis in the child of uncommon etiology: the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus.

Acute transverse myelitis is a rare disorder in childhood. It usually occur s as a post-infectious disease, but a precise infectious agent is identifie d in only 20% of cases. Observation. - The diagnosis of acute transverse myelitis was made in a 5.5 -year-old girl who initially presented with left Claude-Bernard-Horner synd rome and meningitis. A few days later, motor and sensory tetraparesia with bladder dysfunction was observed Magnetic resonance imaging showed a diffus e lesion in the medulla, with a hypersignal in the T2 and a hyposignal in t he TI sequences. Serum analysis showed the presence of a viral infection du e to the lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) virus. The outcome was marked b y complete recovery of the sensorimotor deficit, but a persistence of the l eft Claude-Bernard-Horner syndrome. Conclusion. - In rare cases, the LCM virus is responsible for myelitis. In the present case, the Claude-Bernard-Horner syndrome was secondary to the c ervico-medullary lesion. Recent reports in the literature have been discuss ed, in particular as regards the use of immunomodulatory therapy, which cle arly improves patient prognosis. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medical es Elsevier SAS.