Acute cerebellar ataxia and hearing loss as initial symptoms of infectious mononucleosis

Abstract

A 16-year-old boy had symptoms and signs of cerebellar ataxia and hearing loss. He had no systemic manifestations of infectious mononucleosis and no lymphocytosis. Results of a test for infectious mononucleosis were positive and there was a fourfold rise of serum antibody titer to Epstein-Barr virus capsid antigen. The patient recovered from ataxia but the hearing loss persisted. We reviewed the English literature and 15 cases of cerebellar ataxia associated with infectious mononucleosis were collected. In four of these cases, cerebellar ataxia was the sole manifestation of infectious mononucleosis but no patient had a hearing loss. All patients recovered from ataxia.