title: Meningitis following spinal anesthesia: 6 cases in 5 years.
abstract: We describe 6 cases of meningitis after spinal anesthesia associated with a single anesthesiologist over the course of 5 years. The earliest case occurred in 2000, and the other 5 cases occurred over the course of 14 months in 2004-2005. The case identified in 2000 was culture-positive for Streptococcus salivarius. The other 5 cases were culture-negative for this organism but in 2 cases, the cerebrospinal fluid was found to be positive for bacterial DNA that was identified as belonging to S. salivarius by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The association with a single anesthesiologist and a single hospital during a relatively short interval, however, lead us to believe that these occurrences are part of a series associated with possible violations of aseptic technique.
authors.affiliation: Haifa District Health Office, Haifa, Israel. lisa.p.rubin@gmail.com
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sprecher
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kabaha
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Nava
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Teitler
authors.forename: Shmuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rishpon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000336:Aerosols / Q000009:adverse effects; D000368:Aged; D000775:Anesthesia, Spinal / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000776:Anesthesiology; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017757:Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient; D008297:Male; D008397:Masks / Q000592:standards; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000472:pathogenicity