Peripheral facial paralysis in a child with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever

A patient with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), a tick-borne zoonotic disease caused by the Nairovirus is presented in this paper, as an unusual cause of unilateral peripheric facial paralysis. He was 10 years old and admitted to hospital with a 1-day history of fever, frontal headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, malaise, arthralgia and myalgia. Real-time PCR confirmed the diagnosis of CCHF. Facial paralysis (grade IV based on the House-Brackman classification) was developed on fifth day of hospitalization. A tick occluding the external auditory canal was seen during the otological examination. The right tympanic membrane was perforated at the postero-inferior quadrant. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.