subspecies meningitis--a case report and review of the literature

D. W. Eyre (1) , J. Kenkre (1) , I. C. J. W. Bowler (1) , S. J. Mcbride (1)

1 Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology, John Radcliffe Hospital

A case is described of a 79-year-old man, trampled by his horses, who subsequently developed a wound infection and, later, meningitis. subsp. was isolated as the causative organism. subsp. , which carries the Lancefield Group C antigen, is an uncommon human pathogen but is commonly isolated from bacterial infections in animals, particularly horses. It is most commonly acquired by humans following animal contact. A review of the literature identified 20 previously described cases of subsp. meningitis. Crude mortality following infection was 24%. All of the patients who died were over 70 years of age and the ingestion of unpasteurised dairy products was associated with all but one of the fatal cases. Hearing loss was a frequent complication, occurring in 19% of cases. Only 38% of patients made a complete recovery. Treatment regimes commonly included benzylpenicillin or a third-generation cephalosporin, with a mean treatment duration in survivors of 23 days.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

D. W. Eyre, J. Kenkre, I. C. J. W. Bowler, S. J. Mcbride. subspecies meningitis--a case report and review of the literature. European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2010, 29 (12), pp.1459-1463. ⟨10.1007/s10096-010-1037-5⟩. ⟨hal-00618980⟩