A 25-year-old male presented purulent meningitis associated with transverse myelitis. Spinal T2-weighted MRI showed a large spinal cord with an intramedullary high signal. Infection resolved with antibiotic therapy but spastic paraplegia persisted. Four months later, he developed a Guillain-Barré syndrome with clinical and biological signs of systemic lupus erythematosus. Final outcome was fatal despite corticosteroid and immunoglobulin treatment.