Acute cerebellitis following hemolytic streptococcal infection.
BACKGROUND
Acute cerebellitis is a rare inflammatory syndrome in children, with either infectious or autoimmune etiologies.


METHODS
We describe a 7-year-old girl with a presentation of cerebellitis following group A streptococcal infection.


RESULTS
Magnetic resonance imaging showed diffuse symmetrical swelling and edema of the cerebellum resulting in compression of the fourth ventricle and hydrocephalus. Autoantibodies against glutamate receptor δ2 were detected in the cerebrospinal fluid, suggesting that the cerebellum might be injured by postinfectious immunologic reaction. The most common causes of cerebellitis are acute viral infection, postinfection, and following vaccination. No examples of acute cerebellitis following group A streptococcal infection have been documented.


CONCLUSIONS
Our report demonstrates that group A streptococcal can lead to acute cerebellitis.
Department of Pediatrics, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu City, Japan.
Hiromasa
H
Uchizono
Tadashi
T
Iwasa
Hidemi
H
Toyoda
Yukitoshi
Y
Takahashi
Yoshihiro
Y
Komada
D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006461:Hemolysis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000150:complications*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D001224:Aspartic Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D003401:Creatine
autoantibodies against glutamate receptor δ2; cerebellitis; hemolytic streptococcal infection