Neonatal Proteus meningoencephalitis. Case report

• Published in: APMIS : acta pathologica, microbiologica et immunologica Scandinavica Vol. 100; no. 8; p. 734
• Main Authors: Grahnquist, L, Lundberg, B, Tullus, K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Denmark 01-08-1992
• Subjects: Brain - diagnostic imaging; Female; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Meningoencephalitis - diagnostic imaging; Meningoencephalitis - drug therapy; Meningoencephalitis - microbiology; Prognosis; Proteus Infections - diagnostic imaging; Proteus Infections - drug therapy; Proteus Infections - microbiology; Proteus mirabilis - isolation & purification; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• ISSN: 0903-4641
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1992.tb03992.x

Proteus is an uncommon pathogen in neonatal meningitis and has, to our knowledge, not previously been described from Scandinavia. Our case illustrates the typical course of the disease when onset is within the first two weeks of life. The typical patient is a previously healthy, sometimes slightly preterm infant, who develops multiple brain abscesses and has a very poor prognosis. In cases with a later onset, factors predisposing for infection are common and the outcome is less severe. Our patient was a girl born at a gestational age of 36 full weeks, who was a little less alert than normal during the first three days and then became dramatically sick with convulsions and apnoeas. She died at the age of six days with severe brain damage.