ArticleEuropean journal of neurology2014
Bell's palsy and sudden deafness associated with Rickettsia spp. infection in Sweden. A retrospective and prospective serological survey including PCR findings.
Article in European journal of neurology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Are there other undiagnosed tick-borne infections in children being evaluated for Lyme neuroborreliosis?BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- Seasonal Dynamics and Pathogen Diversity of Tick Species Parasitizing Migratory Birds in Sardinia, Italy: Implications for the Spread ofVeterinary sciences · 2025Article
- Signatures in in vitro infection of NSC-34 mouse neurons and their cell nucleus with Rickettsia helvetica.BMC microbiology · 2023Article
- The role of cofeeding arthropods in the transmission of Rickettsia felis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Article
- Evaluation of factors influencing tick bites and tick-borne infections: a longitudinal study.Parasites & vectors · 2021Article
- Article
- Retrospective serological study ofInfection ecology & epidemiology · 2021Article
- Rickettsia felis identified in two fatal cases of acute meningoencephalitis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2020Article
- Seroprevalence againstJournal of ophthalmology · 2017Article
- Spotted fever group rickettsiae in ticks of migratory birds in Romania.Parasites & vectors · 2016Article
- Article
- Shell-vial culture and real-time PCR applied to Rickettsia typhi and Rickettsia felis detection.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2015Article
- Blood-Brain Barrier Function and Biomarkers of Central Nervous System Injury in Rickettsial Versus Other Neurological Infections in Laos.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2015Article
- Neuritis and gastrointestinal hemorrhage in scrub typhus patients.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2015Article
- Rickettsia felis Infections and comorbid conditions, Laos, 2003-2011.Emerging infectious diseases · 2014Article
- Spotted fever Rickettsia species in Hyalomma and Ixodes ticks infesting migratory birds in the European Mediterranean area.Parasites & vectors · 2014Article
- Rickettsia felis in Ctenocephalides felis felis from five geographic regions of Brazil.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2014Article
- A molecular survey of Rickettsia felis in fleas from cats and dogs in Sicily (Southern Italy).PloS one · 2014Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background and purposeSixty patients with facial palsy and 67 with sudden deafness were retrospectively or prospectively examined for serological evidence of rickettsial infection; in six cases where cerebrospinal fluid was available, patients were also examined for presence of rickettsial DNA.
methodsRickettsial antibodies were detected in single or paired serum samples using immunofluorescence with Rickettsia helvetica as the antigen and in four cases also using western blot. Using PCR and subsequent direct cycle sequencing, the nucleotide sequences of the amplicons (17 kDa protein gene) in cerebrospinal fluid were analysed.
resultsFive out of 60 (8.3%) patients with facial palsy and eight of 67 (11.9%) with hearing loss showed confirmative serological evidence of infection with Rickettsia spp. An additional three and four patients in the facial palsy and hearing loss groups, respectively, showed evidence of having a recent or current infection or serological findings suggestive of infection. In four cases, the specificity of the reaction was confirmed by western blot. An additional 70 patients were seroreactive with IgG or IgM antibodies higher than or equal to the cut-off of 1:64, whereas 37 patients were seronegative. Only two of 127 patients had detectable antibodies to Borrelia spp. In three of six patients, rickettsial DNA was detected in the cerebrospinal fluid, where the obtained sequences (17 kDa) shared 100% similarity with the corresponding gene sequence of Rickettsia felis.
conclusionsThese results highlight the importance of considering Rickettsia spp. as a cause of neuritis, and perhaps as a primary cause of neuritis unrelated to neuroborreliosis.
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