title: Human Tuberculous Meningitis Caused by Mycobacterium caprae.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tuberculous meningitis (TM) causes substantial morbidity and mortality in humans. Human TM has been known to be induced by bacteria from the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), such as M. tuberculosis and M. bovis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We describe a case of meningitis treated with fosfomycin, which showed partial effectiveness in an 80-year-old patient. After a lethal myocardial infarction, M. caprae (MC) was identified in cerebrospinal fluid culture. This isolated acid-fast organism was first identified as MTBC by MTBC-specific PCR (16S rDNA-PCR). Furthermore, species-specific identification of the isolate was done by gyrB PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of a part of gyrB DNA. Colony morphology of the isolated MC strain showed dysgonic growth on Lowenstein-Jensen medium. The strain was susceptible to pyrazinamide (PZA).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This isolated strain was convincingly identified as MC according to the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics and PZA sensitivity. This is the first report of MC causing TM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Carola
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Seiler
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rumpf
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kraft
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dlaske
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abele-Horn
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Muellges