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Ency. home > Disease > A > Acute cerebellar ataxia

Acute cerebellar ataxia   

Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Prevention

Alternative names:

Cerebellar ataxia; Ataxia - acute cerebellar; Cerebellitis; Acute cerebellar ataxia of childhood

Definition:

Acute cerebellar ataxia is the sudden onset of the movement disorder, ataxia, often following an infectious viral disease.

Causes and Risks

Acute cerebellar ataxia occurs most often in children, especially those younger than 3 years old. It often follows a viral infection by several weeks. Common predisposing infections included chickenpox and Coxsackie viral illnesses. In adults, the most common infections are Epstein-Barr virus and Mycoplasma infections.

Ataxia may be axial (trunk) or limb. Axial ataxia is characterized by a broad-based unsteady gait. When the child is sitting, the trunk may deviate side-to-side and back-to-front or any combination and return to the vertical in a jerky type motion. Jerky eye movements (nystagmus) and jerky explosive speech (dysarthria) may develop at the same time.
Limb ataxia manifests itself with poor fine motor control of the hands or legs and appears like inc-ordination. The hand may sway back and forth when reaching for an object.

The condition usually subsides without treatment over a period of weeks to months. Occasionally, a child will be left with a persistent movement disorder or behavioral disorder.

Ency. home > Disease > A > Acute cerebellar ataxia

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