Bacterial meningitis presenting as acute torticollis

Isolated torticollis as a presentation of bacterial meningitis in children

“…This type of torticollis is called ocular torticollis. In contrast to the previous papers [1][2][3] , where torticollis was due to local inflammations of the neck muscles and had improved only after giving analgesics, here, in our case, the torticollis was painless and improved promptly after covering one eye with an opaque patch, along with reduction of the ICP with hypertonic saline and antibiotic therapy.…”

“…Acute torticollis as the sole presenting complaint of meningitis is exceedingly rare. To the best of our knowledge, there are only three such cases reported in the medical literature, two in children 1,2 and one in adults 3 . According to these three case reports, the mechanism of torticollis was unilateral neck muscle spasm due to inflammation of the local tissue 3 .…”

Acute Torticollis After Isolated Stress Fracture of the First Rib in a Child: A Case Report

“…Common causes of acquired painful torticollis are trauma (atlantoaxial rotatory displacement 10 , os odontoideum 11 , and C1 fracture 12 ), inflammation 13 (Grisel syndrome 14 , juvenile rheumatoid arthritis 15 , discitis 15 ), and tumor (eosinophilic granuloma 16 , osteoid osteoma 17 , osteoblastoma 18 , leukemia 19 ). Less common causes include calcified cervical disc 20 , Sandifer syndrome 21 , and bacterial meningitis 22 .…”