Borrelia burgdorferi myelitis presenting as a partial stiff man syndrome

Abstract

Eight weeks after a tick bite, a 33-year-old male patient presented with stiffness of one leg together with spasmodic painful jerks resembling stiff man syndrome. Isolated myelitis of lumbosacral segments of the spinal cord, apparently confined to the grey matter, was diagnosed and its spirochaetal aetiology confirmed by serology and CSF findings. Oligoclonal IgG bands in CSF specific for Borrelia burgdorferi were found. Thus, there is evidence that B. burgdorferi ist able to cause a localized myelitis, probably of spinal interneurons, presenting as a partial stiff man syndrome.