Internal Medicine
Online ISSN : 1349-7235
Print ISSN : 0918-2918
ISSN-L : 0918-2918
CASE REPORTS
Longitudinally Extensive Transverse Myelitis and Optic Neuropathy Associated with Syphilitic Meningomyelitis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Rie TohgeYuya ShinotoMakio Takahashi
Author information
JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2017 Volume 56 Issue 15 Pages 2067-2072

Details
Abstract

The incidence of co-infection with Treponema pallidum and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is increasing in developing and developed countries. The neurological complications of both infections occasionally occur simultaneously during a clinical course. We herein report the case of an HIV carrier with syphilitic meningomyelitis and subclinical optic neuropathy. The patient presumably had latent syphilis and slowly developed longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM). A cerebrospinal fluid examination confirmed the diagnosis of active neurosyphilis based on an elevated T. pallidum hemagglutination assay index. A change in the patient's immune status, possibly due to HIV, might have converted the syphilis from latent to active, leading to LETM of the spinal cord.

Content from these authors
© 2017 by The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine
Previous article Next article
feedback
Top