Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 May;31(4):285-7.
doi: 10.1177/0885066615589734. Epub 2015 Jun 10.

West Nile Meningoencephalitis Presenting as Isolated Bulbar Palsy With Hypercapnic Respiratory Failure: Case Report and Literature Review

Geoffrey Tso  1 , Kirsten Kaldas  1 , Joseph Springer  1 , Nikhil Barot  2 , Nader Kamangar  3
Affiliations
Free article
Review

West Nile Meningoencephalitis Presenting as Isolated Bulbar Palsy With Hypercapnic Respiratory Failure: Case Report and Literature Review

Geoffrey Tso et al. J Intensive Care Med. 2016 May.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Since the outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV) in the United States in 1999, the WNV neuroinvasive disease has been increasingly reported with a wide spectrum of neuromuscular manifestations.

Case: We submit a case of a 46-year-old male with a history of alcohol abuse, diabetes, hypertension, and hepatitis C who presented with fever, nausea, shortness of breath, and dysphagia. The patient rapidly developed hypercapnic respiratory failure and was found to have WNV meningoencephalitis without obvious neuromuscular weakness. His hospital course was significant for repeated failures of extubation secondary to persistent bulbar weakness eventually requiring tracheotomy.

Conclusion: This is a unique case of WNV meningoencephalitis with bulbar palsy without other neuromuscular manifestations resulting in recurrent hypercapnic respiratory failure.

Keywords: West Nile virus; bulbar palsy; neuromuscular weakness; respiratory failure.

PubMed Disclaimer