Severe neurological complications of chickenpox: Report of four cases

Abstract

Neurological complications caused by chickenpox are estimated as approximately 0.01%-0.03%. Frequent complications related to central nerve system involvement are cerebellar ataxia and encephalitis, and rare complications are transverse myelitis, aseptic meningitis, Guillian-Barré syndrome, meningoencephalitis, ventriculitis, optic neuritis, post-hepatic neuralgia, herpes zoster ophalmicus, delayed controlateral hemiparesis, peripheral motor neuropathy, cerebral angitis, Reye syndrome and facial paralysis. In present study, additional four cases were presented who diagnosed as chickenpox within one year and developed neurological complications. Cerebellar ataxia developed in two of our cases while cerebellar ataxia plus encephalitis was present in one case and peripheral type facial paralysis in the other.