A 41-year-old-man comes to the clinic because of right facial weakness for the past 6 days. He denies any pain or changes in hearing. The patient visited the office last week because of an upper respiratory infection for which you advised symptomatic therapy. He has no significant past medical history and takes no medications. Vital signs are: temperature 37 C (98.6 F), blood pressure 90/70 mm Hg, pulse 90/min, and respirations 15/min. Oxygen saturation is 99% on room air. Physical examination reveals weakness of the right side of the face with a droop. The left side of the face is normal. The remainder of a complete neurologic examination and a mini-mental status examination are normal. The next step in the management of this patient is to
A. administer prednisolone intravenous pulse therapy
B. advise him to take aspirin
C. order a CT scan of the head
D. order an MRI of the brain
E. order a nerve conduction study
F. prescribe ampicillin
G. provide reassurance and close clinical follow up
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