Streptococcus pyogenes meningitis: report of a case and review of the literature

Abstract

Streptococcus pyogenes is a rare cause of bacterial meningitis but has to be considered as the causative pathogen beyond the neonatal period.

Streptococcus pyogenes meningitis in children: report of two cases and literature review

“…Furthermore, some risk factors have been described: neurosurgery, skull fractures, CSF leaks, infection or colonization of the upper respiratory tract and skin lesions (impetigo, varicella and erysipelas) [1,5]. However, SPM also occurs in healthy individuals that do not have predisposing conditions and do not present clear evidences of a contiguous focus [3]. In table 1, we observed that 66% of the reported cases presented a predisposing risk factor.…”

“…In older children and adults, contiguous infection foci are most frequently associated with the disease, especially acute otitis media, although in many cases a primary contiguous focus is not identified [3]. In the first case that we presented, the patient had acute otitis media as a risk factor.…”

“…In SPM during infancy, the evolution to neurological complications and sequelae are described in 60% of the cases, with a mortality rate of up to 12% [1,3]. Chow & Muder reported a global lethality of 5% and sequelae in 46% of the cases in a review conducted between 1981 and 1991 [14].…”

“…Since 1980s, there was a great increase in the incidence of invasive streptococcal disease [3], which many times is fulminating, with mortality higher than 30% and also affecting healthy individuals [4]. Despite of this, the rates of SPM remain low in adult and pediatric population [5].…”

Fatal Meningitis Due to Streptococcus pyogenes in an Elderly Patient

“…Toplam 2408 akut pürülan menenjit olgusunun değerlendirildiği bir çalışmada S. pyogenes menenjiti %0.38 oranında saptanmıştır (12). Patogenezi tam olarak açıklanamamakla birlikte, üst solunum yollarında kronik bir infeksiyon varlığı, kafa travması öyküsü, geçirilmiş operasyon öyküsü veya erizipel, impetigo gibi deri lezyonu varlığı risk faktörü olarak düşünülebilmektedir (3,4,13).…”