Paralytic squint due to abducens nerve palsy: a rare consequence of dengue fever.

BACKGROUND: Dengue fever is an endemic illness in the tropics with early and post infectious complications affecting multiple systems. Though neurological sequelae including mononeuropathy, encephalopathy, transverse myelitis, polyradiculopathy, Guillain-Barre syndrome , optic neuropathy and oculomotor neuropathy have been reported in medical literature, the abducens nerve despite its notoriety in cranial neuropathies in a multitude of condition due to its long intracranial course had not been to date reported to manifest with lateral rectus paralysis following dengue. CASE PRESENTATION: A previously well 29 year old male with serologically confirmed dengue hemorrhagic fever developed symptomatic right lateral rectus palsy during the critical phase of the illness, which persisted into convalescence and post convalescence with proven deficit on Hess screen. Alternate etiologies were excluded by imaging, serology and electrophysiology. CONCLUSIONS: The authors detail the first reported case of abducens nerve palsy complicating dengue fever in a previously healthy male from Sri Lanka. In a tropical country with endemic dengue infections, dengue related abducens neuropathy may be considered as a differential diagnosis in cases of acquired lateral rectus palsy after dengue fever.

Diaphragmatic paralysis: a rare consequence of dengue fever.

BACKGROUND: Dengue is considered one of the most common mosquito borne illnesses in the world. Although its clinical course is usually uneventful, complications have rarely been known to arise. These include neurological manifestations such as neuropathies. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a middle aged patient from urban Sri Lanka who developed diaphragmatic paralysis secondary to phrenic neuropathy a month after recovering from dengue fever. He was managed conservatively and made a full recovery subsequently. CONCLUSION: Isolated phrenic nerve palsy causing diaphragmatic paralysis should be considered a recognized complication of Dengue fever. A patient usually gains full recovery with conservative management.

Sytemic lupus erythematosus presenting with protein losing enteropathy in a resource limited centre: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Systemic lupus erythematosus is a disease which may initially present with varying symptoms, most commonly a photosensitive rash and arthritis. Protein losing enteropathy is a recognized but rare presenting manifestation. Diagnosing protein losing enteropathy in resource limited centres is challenging but possible through the exclusion of other possible causes of hypoalbunaemia. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of protein losing gastroenteropathy secondary to intestinal lymphangiectasia as the initial manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus in a 57 year old Sri Lankan (South Asian) male patient. The diagnosis was made by the exclusion of other causes of hypoalbuminaemia as the gold standard investigations for protein losing enteropathy were not available at this centre. CONCLUSIONS: Protein losing enteropathy is a diagnosis of exclusion in resource limited centres in the world. Systemic lupus erythematosus should be considered in the differential diagnosis of protein losing enteropathy. Intestinal lymphangiectasia should also be recognized as a possible pathophysiological mechanism.

Cholestatic hepatitis in a patient with typhoid fever - a case report.

Typhoid fever is a very common infectious disease, particularly in developing countries such as Sri Lanka. Although multiple organs are known to be affected by the disease, hepatic involvement could be considered the most important as studies have showed that it is associated with a higher relapse rate. We report a young patient who presented with fever and jaundice and found to have cholestatic hepatitis secondary to typhoid fever.