Fever-induced dystonia

Abstract

The etiology of dystonia in children is often elusive. We report two children with fever-induced dystonia, an association which has not been previously reported. Both children had episodes of lower extremity dystonia with inversion of the feet and dorsiflexion of the great toes. Events began at 2 years of age, were preceded by febrile illness, and lasted for up to 24 hours. In both children, one of the parents had a history of similar but milder symptoms in childhood. Between spells the children were neurologically normal. Multiple investigations, including metabolic and imaging studies, were normal and therapies were ineffective. As the children aged the dystonic events occurred less frequently. This dystonic syndrome is a previously unrecognized benign episodic movement disorder of childhood.