Death following rapidly progressive demyelinating disorder in a young female—a case report

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, with manifestations ranging from numbness and blindness to paralysis. Typical MS is a slowly progressive demyelinating disease, causing significant morbidity spanning over many years. In contrast, “Marburg’s disease” is a rare variant of MS which demonstrates a malignant monophasic disease progression leading to death within weeks to months. We present a rapidly fatal demyelinating disease with the clinicopathological findings on par with the handful of reported cases of “Marburg’s disease” in the literature. A previously healthy 30-year-old mother of two children was extensively investigated for focal neurological signs succumbing to death 5 weeks after the onset. Antemortem investigations for tuberculosis, autoimmune diseases, and viral studies were negative. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed hyperintense lesions with contrast enhancement compatible with MS. Histopathologic examination confirmed numerous inflammatory and demyelination foci scattered throughout the brain and brain stem predominantly involving the white matter. There were extensive perivascular inflammatory cell cuffs containing lymphocytes admixed with histiocytes. Also, a few foci of vasculitis with fibrinoid necrosis, mediated by lymphocytes and neutrophils were noted associated with parenchymal haemorrhages. Considered a rare variant of MS, the case of Marburg’s disease presented here shows an infrequent association with active vasculitis and haemorrhage, described only a few times in the literature. This wide spectrum of rapidly fatal demyelinating diseases consisting of rare variants with overlapping clinicopathological features makes diagnosis challenging. Therefore, it is important to correlate clinical-radiological and histopathological findings to arrive at an accurate final diagnosis.