Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis: more common than we think?

is characterised by the clinical triad of ophthalmoplegia, ataxia and conscious-ness disturbance, and the other features supportive of the diagnosis of BBE include antecedent infection, cerebro-spinal fluid albuminocytological dissoci-ation and the presence of serum IgG anti-GQ1b antibodies.1 The common clin-ical immunological profiles to BBE and Fisher syndrome (FS) strongly suggest that both conditions are part of the same spec-trum of disease. BBE is a rare disorder, and so far there is only one epidemiological study of BBE; a nationwide survey conducted in Japan ha