Bell Palsy in Neurosyphilis
Federico Sansoni¹, Marco Zanette¹, Claudia Colli³, Iris Zalaudek¹, Nicola Di Meo¹
A 23-year-old male with previously diagnosed Bell’s palsy presented to our STD clinic due to the recent onset of two indolent ulcerative lesions in the anogenital area (1).
Both treponemal and nontreponemal blood tests were positive, and subsequent laboratory examination of CNS fluid suggested neurosyphilis (1).
To date, only four cases of syphilis with neurological involvement manifesting as Bell’s palsy have been reported in scientific literature (2).
In recent years, two additional patients with confirmed neurosyphilis exhibited peripheral facial nerve palsy at our STD clinic.
Federico Sansoni