Streptococcus pyogenes meningitis: report of a case and review of the literature.
Streptococcus pyogenes is a very uncommon cause of bacterial meningitis beyond the neonatal period. A case report and a review of the recent literature is presented. We report on a previously healthy 7-year-old boy who developed S. pyogenes meningitis following a 2-day history of otitis media. A CT scan revealed right-sided mastoiditis as a possible focus of infection. The patient was treated with penicillin G for 14 days. The clinical course was uneventful, and the recovered without sequelae. By means of the polymerase chain reaction, the presence of streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin (SPE) B and SPE C, but not SPE A genes was discovered from the bacterial DNA.


CONCLUSIONS
Streptococcus pyogenes is a rare cause of bacterial meningitis but has to be considered as the causative pathogen beyond the neonatal period.
University Children's Hospital, Freiburg, Germany. berner@kk1200.ukl.uni-freiburg.de
R
R
Berner
S
S
Herdeg
N
N
Gordjani
M
M
Brandis
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002648:Child; D005098:Exotoxins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008417:Mastoiditis / Q000175:diagnosis; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013297:Streptococcus pyogenes; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005098:Exotoxins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C117980:SpeA protein, Streptococcus pyogenes; C027951:erythrogenic toxin