title: Association of Brucella meningoencephalitis with cerebrospinal fluid shunt in a child: a case report.
abstract: Brucellosis is an endemic zoonosis in Iran. It is a systemic infection that can involve any organs or systems of the body and have variable presentations. Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt infections due to brucellosis have been rarely reported in the literatures. This is the history of a four years old boy who developed Brucella meningoencephalitis at the age of 42 months, whilst he had a VP shunt in situ for hydrocephalus treatment. Also, he presented brucellosis as acute abdomen. This patient was treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin and rifampicin. The shunt was extracted and all clinical and laboratory test abnormalities subsided through this management. We propose that in a patient with Brucella meningoencephalitis, the cerebrospinal fluid shunt system can be extracted and treatment with appropriate combination of antibiotics could be successful. Moreover, it shows that brucellosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis for acute abdomen and ascites in endemic regions.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Pediatric Health Research Center, Departments of Infectious diseases, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Babak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abdinia
authors.affiliation: Professor of Pediatric Neurology, Departments of Pediatric Neurology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barzegar
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Departments of Nephrology Diseases, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malaki
authors.affiliation: Resident of Pediatric, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Haleh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Behbod
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Departments of Infectious Diseases, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahram
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oskoui
keywords: Brucella; Meningoencephalitis; Shunt