[Acute motor axonal neuropathy, enterovirus and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: can there be a link?]

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder of both upper and lower motor neurons. Acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN) affects only the lower motor neuron and occurs, in the majority of cases, after an infection. To date, the etiology of ALS remains unknown but seems multifactorial. A 60 year-old man with a past medical history of AMAN developed ALS 9 years later. At that time, genomic sequences of enterovirus (echovirus 6 and 7) were detected in cerebrospinal fluid by RT-PCR. This particular succession led to discuss a possible link between theses two disorders and consequently the involvement of enterovirus in the development of ALS.