Short duration respiratory illness with abducens palsy in a young man

Acute onset of diplopia associated with high-grade fever, sore throat and cough without features of raised intracranial tension in a young patient is an uncommon presentation. A diagnosis of abducent nerve palsy due to pontine tuberculoma associated with miliary tuberculosis was made based on sputum examination, chest x-ray and MRI. On diagnosis, monocular patching of the left eye was performed to avoid diplopia and primary antitubercular drugs with systemic steroids were given. An unfortunate 48 h delay in starting the antitubercular treatment likely decreased the probability of survival.