Peripheral facial palsy and viral replication.

Significant levels of specific IgM and/or IgG antibodies against the cytomegalovirus (CMV) have been demonstrated in 64 (73%) of a consecutive series of 88 patients with acute peripheral facial palsy. Herpes varicella-zoster infection was serologically confirmed in 3 other cases. There were no detectable clinical differences between patients with and without immunological response to CMV antigens. The facial palsy and the CMV immunological response are contemporaneous, but these two phenomena need not necessarily be pathogenetically related.