Eight-and-a-Half Syndrome Secondary to Neurotoxoplasmosis: A Rare Case Report

ABSTRACT

Eight-and-a-half syndrome (EHS) is a neuro-ophthalmological condition characterised by horizontal gaze palsy, internuclear ophthalmoplegia, and ipsilateral facial palsy. Albeit rare, EHS is a well reported condition in the literature, with several reports presenting multiple aetiologies. Infarcts are the cause in more than half the cases. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related cases are rare, and are probably underreported in low- and middle-income countries. In this report, we describe EHS secondary to neurotoxoplasmosis in a 40-year-old HIV-positive Brazilian man. EHS secondary to neurotoxoplasmosis is a challenging diagnosis, with important differential diagnoses, notably for HIV patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Eight-and-a-half syndrome
• one-and-a-half syndrome
• facial nerve palsy
• neurotoxoplasmosis
• brainstem
• HIV
• neuro-ophthalmology

Declaration of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01658107.2022.2043390.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.