[A 4-year-old girl with diarrhoea, paresis and mutism]

Abstract

BACKGROUND Rotavirus is a common cause of gastroenteritis in children. Neurological manifestations associated with rotavirus infections are well described and range from benign afebrile convulsions to lethal encephalopathy or encephalitis.CASE PRESENTATION We present an uncommon neurological manifestation in a Caucasian child in the course of a rotavirus infection. A 4-year old girl presented with mutism, hypotonia and reduced consciousness. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed diffusion abnormalities in the splenium corpus callosum and bilaterally in the nuclei dentate in the cerebellum. She was diagnosed with rotavirus cerebellitis.INTERPRETATION Her clinical symptoms and the magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities were uncommon and previously described in only a few Caucasian children. The outcome has varied, and some children have shown long term neurological sequela. Treatment with immunoglobulins and corticosteroids has been used in similar cases, but there is no established treatment for this condition.