A Case Mollaret Meningitis

Mollaret meningitis is a rare syndrome first described by Mollaret in 1944, which is reccurent aseptic meningitis with characteristic clinical and spinal fluid cytologic findings. No etiology has been established. Several authors suggested the association with herpes virus infection, some found intracranial epidermoid tumor eventually in patients diagnosed of Mollaret meningitis.

We experienced a case of 14-year old male who had 3 episodes of recurrent aseptic meningitis during four years. The patients initially presented with clinical and laboratory feature of bacterial meningitis, however, extensive serological investigation and cerebrospinal fluid analysis failed to reveal a specific cause. Immune system studies were unremarkable. Cranial computed tomography performed during the attack and magnetic resonance imaging when the patient was asymptomatic were both normal. A tentative diagnosis of Mollaret meningitis was established at the 3rd episode. We report this case with a review of related literatures.