Twelve episodes of meningitis in the same patient!

ABSTRACT

Recurrent bacterial meningitis is potentially life-threatening; resultant complications and adverse events during management take their extra toll on the patient. A rare case with 12 consecutive episodes of pyogenic meningitis, probably the maximum number ever reported in the literature, has been presented. A minor head injury but with no subsequent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak during childhood was the index event in this patient. High resolution computerized tomography (HRCT) scan of the base of the skull clearly revealed a bony dehiscence missed on numerous previous imagings. Culprit micro organisms involved in recurrence were Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseriae meningitides. Though surgical repair would have been definitive treatment, medical management with pneumococcal and meningococcal vaccination and prophylactic penicillin have been used in this patient to prevent further recurrences.