Mediterranean spotted fever and peripheral facial nerve palsy: a rare neurological complication

Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) caused by the bacterium Rickettsia conorii is one of the oldest known tick-borne diseases. It is transmitted by the brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus and occurs mainly in the Mediterranean area. MSF usually presents with a skin rash, high fever, and characteristic eschar at the site of the tick bite. The course of this disease may be benign or life-threatening. Focal neurological manifestations are unusual. We report the case of a patient who presented with an isolated peripheral facial nerve palsy complicating R conorii conorii infection.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )