Community-acquired Acinetobacter meningitis in adults

Abstract

Community-acquired Acinetobacter meningitis in adults is an extremely rare infection of the central nervous system (CNS). Here we report one adult case of this rare CNS infection and review the clinical data of another seven cases reported in the English language literature. In total, eight patients (six men and two women) aged between 19 and 63 years were studied. The causative pathogen in our patient was Acinetobacter baumannii; in the other reported cases they were most likely Acinetobacter Iwoffii, Acinetobacter johnsonii, Acinetobacter junii, a genomic species 3 or 6. No underlying disease was found in seven of the eight cases and six of the eight patients acquired the infections before the age of 30 years. Fever and consciousness disturbance were the most common clinical manifestations. Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome (WFS) was found in two cases. Unlike the Acinetobacter strains found in nosocomial infections, the strain of Acinetobacter meningitis in the community-acquired case did not show multiple antibiotic resistance. Most adult patients with community-acquired Acinetobacter meningitis can be saved by timely therapy with appropriate antibiotics before deterioration of the systemic condition and impairment of consciousness.