Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0043167 (pertussis)
 19,595 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Since the initial report of Beyers & Moll (1948), numerous cases of seizures and encephalopathy after pertussis immunization or DPT immunization have been reported. However, acute cerebellar ataxia and/or facial palsy after DPT immunization is unusual, although there have been several reports from Japan. We report a 1-year-11-month-old girl with acute cerebellar ataxia and facial palsy after DPT immunization. On admission, she was alert. She was active and had a 6-day history of an ataxic gait and asymmetric facial movement which had begun 5 hours after DPT immunization. Neurological examination revealed an ataxic gait, horizontal nystagmus and right facial palsy. A CT scan showed low density on the right side of the pons with marked contrast enhancement. A MRI scan indicated the involvement of not only the right side of the pons, but also of the bilateral cerebellar peduncles. The child did well subsequently and was neurologically normal 20 days after the initial symptoms. To our knowledge, the present case is probably the first reported one of acute cerebellar ataxia after DPT immunization with CT and/or MRI correlation.
 ...
PMID:[Acute cerebellar ataxia and facial palsy after DPT immunization]. 280 99

Bordetella pertussis (BP), the agent of whooping cough, has not been recognized so far as a cause of permanent cerebellar ataxia in human. We describe three patients who developed a disabling and permanent cerebellar syndrome soon after whooping cough. In two patients, diagnosis of BP infection was confirmed by culture of nasopharyngeal secretions. The infection occurred between the age of 13 and 15 years, with neurological symptoms beginning after a delay varying from 3 weeks to 3 months. In our three patients, the cerebellar syndrome was characterized by dysmetria of ocular saccades, scanning speech and ataxic gait. Brain MRI demonstrated a pancerebellar atrophy. The pathogenesis of this cerebellar degeneration is not established. Experimental studies have demonstrated that the cerebellum is particularly vulnerable to lymphocytosis-promoting factor (LPF), one of the exotoxins from BP. The mechanism of this toxicity might be a marked increase in the cellular levels of 3',5'cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). Since whooping cough is a bacterial exotoxin-mediated disease, this is the first report of a cerebellar syndrome triggered by a bacterial exotoxin.
 ...
PMID:Cerebellar ataxia following whooping cough. 1035 Feb 7