[Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis after rabies vaccination: a case report]

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. It is a disease whose incidence is not precisely known. The presumed mechanism is demyelination of the immune-mediated central nervous system. There is no pathognomonic clinical presentation in ADEM. The combination of multifocal neurological disorders arising in the aftermath of an infection or vaccination should alert the clinician. We report a case of ADEM in an 8-year-old child occurring after antirabies vaccination. The diagnosis was made by nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (bilateral and multifocal lesions in the subcortical occipitoparietal and frontal left anterior white matter with involvement of U fibers) and a history of antirabies vaccination. The clinical course was marked by the appearance of motor and visual effects.