Bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and cerebellar ataxia in the case of late stage Lyme disease

Isolated Sudden Bilateral Neurosensory Hearing Loss as a Presentation of Lyme Neuroborreliosis: A Case Study

“…The absence of a tick bite or skin rash in cases of Borrelia infection can make it difficult to suspect the diagnosis based solely on clinical history, since ticks are small and a rash may not always appear [ 10 ].…”

Estimation of hearing impairment occurrence in patients with Lyme borreliosis – preliminary study

“…The question of hearing disorders in LB has never been investigated in a comprehensive manner which would make it possible to draw reliable conclusions [11,13,14,15]. The world literature merely presents some descriptions of single cases and nearly all of them concern only evident sudden loss of hearing [16,17,18,19]. The objective of the present study was a preliminary evaluation of the prevalence of hearing impairments in patients with LB.…”

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

“…However, we would like to point out that the occurrence of a progressive bilateral sensorineural hearing loss is a different clinical feature that can now be definitely linked to a late stage Lyme disease (5Y8). The link is evident on the association of hearing loss with central neurologic features (5Y8) and the presence of a lymphocytic meningitis on cerebrospinal fluid analysis (5,7,8). Interestingly, the antibiotic treatment was efficient on the hearing loss, the duration of which was between 6 months and 2 years (6Y8), as well as on lymphocytic meningitis (7,8).…”

“…The link is evident on the association of hearing loss with central neurologic features (5Y8) and the presence of a lymphocytic meningitis on cerebrospinal fluid analysis (5,7,8). Interestingly, the antibiotic treatment was efficient on the hearing loss, the duration of which was between 6 months and 2 years (6Y8), as well as on lymphocytic meningitis (7,8). Consequently, laboratory testing for Lyme disease is compulsory in cases of rapidly progressive bilateral sensorineural hearing loss with central neurologic symptoms.…”