The differential diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and subacute herpes virus myelitis

Abstract

Differential diagnosis of incurable and potentially curable neurological diseases is an urgent problem of modern neurology. The authors present a case report of subacute herpes virus myelitis, a rare complication of herpes infection by Varicella-Zoster virus. The differential diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is described.

Differential diagnoses of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are more variegated than anticipated

“…Missing in this list of differentials of ALS are mitochondrial disorders, compression-induced painless cervical radiculopathy,[2] late-onset Hirayama disease,[3] Niemann–Pick disease type C,[4] Herpesvirus myelitis,[5] mitochondrial membrane protein-associated neurodegeneration,[6] spinocerebellar ataxia Type 3,[7] hexosaminidase A deficiency,[7] Parkinson's disease,[7] spinal muscular atrophy,[7] monomelic amyotrophy,[7] Morvan syndrome,[8] capecitabine-induced leukoencephalopathy,[9] tumor necrosis factor-alpha therapy of psoriatic arthritis,[10] GM2 gangliosidoses (Sandhoff disease, AB-variant, and Tay–Sachs disease), frontotemporal dementia, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, flail arm syndrome, Lyme disease, progressive muscular atrophy, cramp fasciculation syndrome, pure motor neuropathy with or without conduction block, Sjögren syndrome, aluminium intoxication, and lead intoxication.…”