title: Candidal meningitis in children with cancer.
abstract: Candidal meningitis is a rare disease that is seen most frequently in neonates, neurosurgical patients, and the immunocompromised host. We describe a series of 12 children with cancer (all of whom had leukemia) who had candidal meningitis develop. Univariate analysis revealed that duration of fever, antibiotic therapy, and profound neutropenia and use of total parenteral nutrition were significantly associated (P<.05) with candidal meningitis in children with cancer, compared with matched control subjects. Only duration of profound neutropenia (P=.08) and use of total parenteral nutrition (P=.06) approached significance in the multivariate analysis. One species of Candida, Candida tropicalis, was responsible for 11 of the 12 cases, indicating increased pathogenicity of this organism in CNS disease. The cases were invariably fatal, supporting aggressive treatment of candidal meningitis in immunocompromised patients and further study of the prevention, diagnosis, and management of C. tropicalis meningitis.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Infectious Diseases and Virology and Molecular Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105-2794, USA. jon.mccullers@stjude.org
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: McCullers
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Flynn
authors.forename: B I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Razzouk
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Shenep
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002175:Candida / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D007938:Leukemia / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D016921:Meningitis, Fungal / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents