A Rare Cause of Bilateral Facial Palsy

Ahmet Z. Burakgazi^1, and James W. Schmidley²

¹Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Roanoke Memorial Hospital; Assistant Professor of Medicine (Neurology), Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, Roanoke, VA.

²Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Roanoke Memorial Hospital; Professor of Medicine (Neurology), Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, Roanoke, VA.

Cite this paper:
Ahmet Z. Burakgazi and James W. Schmidley. A Rare Cause of Bilateral Facial Palsy. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2016; 4(2):62-64. doi: 10.12691/ajmcr-4-2-8

Abstract

HIV infection can cause neurological complications at all stages of the disease. Bilateral facial paralysis is not common in HIV, and more likely to have a systemic cause such as GBS, brain stem encephalitis, sarcoidosis, Lyme disease, syphilis or bacterial meningitis. Although HIV-associated bilateral facial palsy is very rare, it should be included in the differential diagnosis in unexplained cases, particularly in high-risk patients. We report a unique case of bilateral facial nerve palsy as an initial presenting symptom of AIDS, with an updated literature review.

Keywords:
facial palsy HIV infection

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