Enterococcus gallinarum meningitis: a case report and literature review

BACKGROUND: As an opportunistic pathogen, E. gallinarum mainly leads to nosocomial infections, and it’s multi-drug resistance has gained more and more attention. Central nervous system infections caused by E. gallinarum are rare, but have been reported more often in recent years. The previous cases were generally secondary to neurosurgery, especially ventriculoperitoneal shunts. In recent years, the cases largely occurred in patients with impaired immune function. The patient in our report may have had dual risk factors (immune impairment and an invasive surgical procedure). CASE PRESENTATION: The patient, a 35-year-old female, was admitted to our hospital for headaches of 3 days duration accompanied by nausea and vomiting for 2 days. The patient had fevers and chills for 3 days before admission; the peak body temperature was 38.5 °C. The patient had a splenectomy in our hospital 2 years earlier for thrombocytopenia and was thought to be immunocompromised. The abnormal findings on physical examination and laboratory testing were as follows: neck stiffness, present; lumbar puncture: pressure, 300 mmH(2)O; Pandy’s test, positive; white blood cell (WBC) count, 1536 × 10(6)/L; monocyte count, 602 × 10(6)/L; monocyte percentage, 39.2%; multinucleate cell count, 934 × 10(6)/L; multinucleate cell percentage, 60.8%; protein, 1.08 g/L; WBC count, 21.1 × 10(9)/ L; neutrophil percentage, 85.3%; neutrophil count, 20.55 × 10(9)/L; C reactive protein (CRP): 136.4 mg/L; procalcitonin, 6.70 ng/mL. The patient was given meropenem (2.0 g, intravenous infusion, every 8 h) for anti-infection supplemented with other symptomatic support treatments. The patient’s fever and headache had no significant relief. CONCLUSIONS: Central nervous system infections caused by E. gallinarum are rare, but should be suspected, particularly inpatients with impaired immune function or ineffective treatment. Avoiding long-term invasive treatment and improving immunity are helpful to reduce the occurrence of E. gallinarum infections. Early detection and diagnosis, as well as rational antibiotic use, are the keys to achieve satisfactory efficacy.