We read your article titled "Tourette Syndrome after Mumps Meningoencephalitis: A Case Report" that has been published in the 1st issue of 2011 of your journal with interest.1 This case is important since it is the second case reported in our country and responses to aripiprazole therapy. Central nervous involvement and its complications are highly frequent during the mumps infection. Meningoencephalitis, is the most common complication secondary to mumps infection during the childhood period. While mumps infection is often seen between 4 to 7 years old2, risk for the meningoencephalitis has been reported to increase by the age3 Mumps infection developing age was reported as 6.6±2.7 in the children following up in Hacettepe University Medical Faculty, Pediatric Infectious Disease Unit, while meningoencephalitis developing age was found as 7.6±2.63 Central nervous system symptoms accompany in more than 10% of the patients developed mumps infection2, while this rate was found as 5.5% in the same study.3
Another point that we want to draw attention to is that hearing loss develop in 1/2000 to 1/30000 of the patients with mumps infection4 In a study conducted in our unit5, when the control group and the patients with mumps meningoencephalitis were compared, hearing loss was defined to be seen in a higher rate in those with mumps meningoencephalitis. This was attributed to the cochlear damage caused by mumps meningoencephalitis. There for it is recommended to perform hearing tests in follow-up of the presented case.
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