Listeria monocytogenes meningoencephalitis in an immunocompetent, previously healthy 20-month old female child

Abstract

Invasive listeriosis predominantly affects pregnant women, neonates, elderly and people with a compromised immune function. For more than 80 years since the discovery of Listeria in 1924, only a few reports of invasive listeriosis in humans have emerged from India, with all of them in patients having an underlying predisposition. We, however, report Listeria monocytogenes meningoencephalitis in an immunocompetent, previously healthy, 20-month-old female child with no underlying predisposition. The patient showed poor response to empirical treatment with vancomycin and ceftriaxone but improved dramatically after substitution with ampicillin and amikacin. She had a complete recovery other than left lateral rectus palsy that persisted.

Multi-Virulence-Locus Sequence Typing of 4bListeria monocytogenesIsolates Obtained from Different Sources in India over a 10-Year Period

“…They observed that isolates from humans and water belonged to 4b, 4d, 4e or 1/2c, 3c serogroups, while milkborne isolates belonged to serogroups 1/2b, 3b or 1/2a, 3a. Other studies documenting human listeriosis in India have been reported in the last 10 years (Dhanashree et al, 2003;Gupta et al, 2003;Mokta et al, 2010;Adhikary et al, 2011;Peer et al, 2010;Kaur et al, 2010); however, some of these studies did not report serotypes of L. monocytogenes, and the strains from these studies could not be obtained for further characterization. Based on the findings of our study, it is speculated that ECI is broadly distributed and could be responsible for outbreaks in India.…”

“…Listerial outbreaks tend to be reported as sporadic cases, due to lack of an established surveillance system for monitoring outbreaks in India (Gupta et al, 2003;Mokta et al, 2010;Adhikari and Joshi, 2011). In India, listeriosis has also been detected in immune-compromised individuals (Peer et al, 2010;Mukherjee et al, 2011). Recently, a case of listerial meningitis with disseminated tuberculosis in a human immunodeficiency-positive individual was reported ( Joel et al, 2013).…”

Neonatal listeriosis: A case report from sub-Himalayas

“…In most human cases, the mode of infection is not known, though it probably involves ingestion of contaminated animal products or contact with infected animals. [12] The organism from intestine spreads by haematogenous route to any organ of the body with predilection to central nervous system and placenta. Pregnancy-associated listeriosis can occur during any stage of gestation though most cases are detected during the 3 rd trimester.…”

“…[5] Very few cases of invasive listeriosis have emerged from India, which makes clinical suspicion unlikely. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] In the current case, presumptive diagnosis of bacterial meningitis was considered and empirical treatment with ceftriaxone and amikacin was started. By the time the isolate from CSF was identified as L. monocytogenes, the child had unfortunately succumbed to it.…”

A Review: Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of listeria species in milk products

“…There are several microbes secreted through the milk, but Listeria monocytogenes is the bacteria which cause problem in public (Cabanes et al, 2005). Listeria monocytogenes is the most important specie in the genus Listeria causing human health threat and spread worldwide with specific host range, includes fish, mammal, crustacean, poultry, and ticks (Peer et al, 2010). The intracellular microorganism focused the association between the infection and developments of the monocytosis in host, which is called as listeriosis in animals.…”