Acute anterior myelitis complicating West Nile fever

A healthy young man developed acute anterior myelitis resembling the "polio syndrome." He had visited an area (the Gulf of Suez) in which West Nile fever is endemic prior to his illness. The course of his febrile illness, the spinal fluid findings, and complement fixation antibody titers established the diagnosis of West Nile fever. Meningoencephalitis is a serious, and previously the only known, complication of this usually benign febrile illness. This is the first report, to our knowledge, of another neurological complication, namely acute anterior myelitis.