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= Paid-up subscribersPractitioner 2010;254 (1727):33-35
Ramsay Hunt syndrome presenting in primary care
22 Mar 2010
Ramsay Hunt syndrome is a lower motor neurone weakness of the seventh (facial)cranial nerve caused by reactivation of the herpes zoster virus. It was first described by James Ramsay Hunt (1874 - 1937), an American neurologist. The virus infects the geniculate ganglion of the nerve causing facial weakness. The onset of a motor neuropathy thereby makes it inherently different from the more typical presentation of shingles, which predominantly causes a sensory neuropathy. A vesicular erythematous rash on, or around, the pinna (zoster oticus) may be present.
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