Infection of central nervous system by motile Enterococcus: first case report

J Clin Microbiol. 2001 Feb;39(2):820-2. doi: 10.1128/JCM.39.2.820-822.2001.

Abstract

A 66-year-old man with four indwelling ventriculoperitoneal shunts for multiloculated hydrocephalus from a complicated case of meningitis a year before developed shunt infection based on a syndrome of fever, drowsiness, and cerebrospinal fluid neutrophil pleocytosis in the background of repeated surgical manipulation to relieve successive shunt blockages. The cerebrospinal fluid culture, which yielded a motile Enterococcus species, was believed to originate from the gut. This isolate was lost in storage and could not be characterized further. The patient improved with vancomycin and high-dose ampicillin therapy. He relapsed a month later with Enterococcus gallinarum shunt infection, which responded to high-dose ampicillin and gentamicin therapy. This is probably the first case report of motile Enterococcus infection of the central nervous system.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Central Nervous System Bacterial Infections / diagnosis*
  • Central Nervous System Bacterial Infections / drug therapy
  • Drug Therapy, Combination / therapeutic use*
  • Enterococcus* / classification
  • Enterococcus* / isolation & purification
  • Enterococcus* / physiology
  • Fever
  • Gentamicins / therapeutic use*
  • Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / diagnosis*
  • Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / drug therapy
  • Humans
  • Hydrocephalus / etiology
  • Hydrocephalus / surgery
  • Male
  • Meningitis / complications
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Recurrence
  • Vancomycin / therapeutic use*
  • Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt / adverse effects

Substances

  • Gentamicins
  • Vancomycin