Misdiagnosed case of bicker staff brainstem encephalitis.

Abstract

Bickerstaff’s brainstem encephalitis (BBE) is a rare neurological disease characterized by ophthalmoplegia, ataxia and altered sensorium.¹ Its etiology is thought to be autoimmune in nature and sometimes certain infections precede illness.^2-4 It is a spectrum of illnesses with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) and Miller Fischer Syndrome (MFS).^5-6 We describe an atypical case of BBE which was initially misdiagnosed as meningo-encephalitis. As such, we report this case for its rarity. Informed consent was received from the patient before undertaking and reporting this study.