Herpes encephalitis preceded by ipsilateral vestibular neuronitis.

A 74-year-old woman developed vertigo and jerk nystagmus to the left with normal cerebral imaging. Three days later she developed fever, altered mental state and left medial temporal lobe hypodensity, confirmed on lumbar puncture to be due to herpes simplex type 1 encephalitis. We propose that the patient had vestibular neuronitis caused by HSV-1 that progressed to ipsilateral temporal lobe encephalitis.