TY - JOUR
T1 - Immunocompromised teenager with meningitis caused by Ureaplasma parvum
AU - Ehrnström, Birgitta
AU - Haugan, Maria Schei
AU - Andreasen, Jo Bønding
AU - Ellingsen, Asbjørn
N1 - © BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
PY - 2024/3/7
Y1 - 2024/3/7
N2 - Infection in the immunocompromised patient is often challenging on multiple levels. It can be difficult to distinguish between manifestations of the underlying disease, infection or malignancy. Symptoms may be vague or even absent, deviations in the common inflammatory parameters discrete, imaging findings scarce and the causative microbe may be a true pathogen as well as opportunistic. Here, we report an immunosuppressed female in her late teens with a purulent meningitis due to Ureaplasma parvum-a very rare cause of infection in the central nervous system of adults. We wish to highlight the relevance of intracellular pathogens and the need to actively search for these microbes, especially when response to broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment is absent. Furthermore, we emphasise the need for adequate molecular microbial diagnostics in search of microbes that are difficult to identify by culture and where serology and antigen tests may be absent or unreliable due to immune suppression.
AB - Infection in the immunocompromised patient is often challenging on multiple levels. It can be difficult to distinguish between manifestations of the underlying disease, infection or malignancy. Symptoms may be vague or even absent, deviations in the common inflammatory parameters discrete, imaging findings scarce and the causative microbe may be a true pathogen as well as opportunistic. Here, we report an immunosuppressed female in her late teens with a purulent meningitis due to Ureaplasma parvum-a very rare cause of infection in the central nervous system of adults. We wish to highlight the relevance of intracellular pathogens and the need to actively search for these microbes, especially when response to broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment is absent. Furthermore, we emphasise the need for adequate molecular microbial diagnostics in search of microbes that are difficult to identify by culture and where serology and antigen tests may be absent or unreliable due to immune suppression.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology
KW - Central Nervous System
KW - Immunocompromised Host
KW - Meningitis, Bacterial/diagnosis
KW - Ureaplasma
KW - Ureaplasma Infections/complications
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85187127802&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/bcr-2023-257261
DO - 10.1136/bcr-2023-257261
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38453229
SN - 1757-790X
VL - 17
JO - BMJ Case Reports
JF - BMJ Case Reports
IS - 3
M1 - e257261
ER -