Acute transverse myelitis secondary to Salmonella paratyphi B infection

Abstract

Acute transverse myelitis (ATM) is a rare entity with an annual incidence of 4.6 per one million people. Its hallmark lesions are medullary perivenular inflammation and demyelination. The parainfectious form of ATM constitutes the most common subset of this entity. We report a woman with ATM secondary to Salmonella paratyphi B infection (paratyphoid fever) who was successfully treated with a specific parenteral antibiotic. Although, the association of Salmonella typhi infection and ATM is very rarely found in the literature, we believe this is the first report of ATM secondary to S. paratyphi B infection. Clinicians should consider ATM as a possible complication of infection with salmonella species.