Reversible cerebellar dysfunction associated with ciguatera fish poisoning.

BACKGROUND: Ciguatera-fish poisoning (or ciguatera) is a common but underdiagnosed food-borne illness related to fish consumption that is characterized by nausea, vomiting and neurologic symptoms such as tingling in the fingers or toes.

OBJECTIVE: We describe the case of a young man who suffered from diarrhea and abdominal pain after eating raw fish and who also developed severe ataxia with spontaneous downbeat and perverted head-shaking nystagmus.

CASE REPORT: The patient experienced visual fixation suppression failure during the bithermal caloric test and bilateral smooth-pursuit impairment. Oculomotor findings suggested dysfunction of the vestibulocerebellum, especially the flocculus.

CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that both the peripheral and the central nervous systems can be involved in ciguatera.