An Unusual Variant of Acute Idiopathic Polyneuritis (Syndrome of Ophthalmoplegia, Ataxia and Areflexia)

THE purpose of this communication is to report 3 cases of an acute neurologic illness characterized among other features by total external ophthalmoplegia, severe ataxia and loss of the tendon reflexes. The clinical picture in all 3 cases was so similar as to constitute an easily recognizable syndrome. The presenting symptoms and signs were most alarming for the attending physician on each occasion — unnecessarily so, since the course of the illness appears to be benign. The cause of the syndrome was obscure until, in the most recent case, a great rise in the protein of the cerebrospinal fluid in . . .