Elizabethkingia Meningoseptica: An Emerging Pathogen in Pediatric Patients.

Bashir Ahmad Fomda,Dekyong Angmo,Javid Iqbal,Shaista Nazir

doi:10.33883/jms.v17i2.242

Abstract

E. meningoseptica is widely distributed in fresh and salt waters, in the soil, and in some animals but is not considered a normal human microflora. It is a gram negative non-fermentative bacillus which is found in the hospital environment and associated with nosocomial infections. It causes various disease like endocarditis, peritonitis, bacteremia, pneumonia, pediatric meningitis. It is mostly associated with infections in the immunocompromised patients. Recognition of E. meningoseptica is of paramount importance for clinicians since multi-drug resistance is common for this organism and secondly it is resistant to antibiotics which are normally used in the treatment of gram negative infections and is sensitive to vancomyin. So knowledge about this organism and its sensitivity will help clinicans to start the antibiotic of choice promptly. We here reported 2 cases of Elizabethkingia meningoseptica in blood and pleural fluid from immunocompromised pediatric patients. JMS 2014;17(2):61-63

Highlights

E. meningoseptica is widely distributed in fresh and salt waters, in the soil, and in some animals but is not considered a normal human microflora
Potential risk factors for developing E. meningoseptica bacteremia identified in the literature include malignancies, steroid use, diabetes mellitus, neutropenia, and organ transplant.[2,3]
We reported 2 cases of Elizabethkingia meningoseptica in a patient with bacteremia and pyrexia of unknown origin

Summary

Introduction

E. meningoseptica is widely distributed in fresh and salt waters, in the soil, and in some animals but is not considered a normal human microflora. Elizabethkingia meningoseptica previously known as Chryseobacterium meningosepticum is a gram-negative bacillus that is widely distributed in nature[1]. Potential risk factors for developing E. meningoseptica bacteremia identified in the literature include malignancies, steroid use, diabetes mellitus, neutropenia, and organ transplant.[2,3] Patients with multiple comorbid conditions (especially cancer, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease or end-stage renal disease being treated with dialysis, alcoholism, alcoholic cirrhosis, immunocompromising conditions, immunosuppressive treatment) should prompt a high index of suspicion for Elizabethkingia infections. Email bashirfomda@gmail.com Journal of Medical Sciences 2014; 17(2):[61-63] resistant to antibiotics used to treat gram-negative infections, including extended-spectrum beta-lactams, aminoglycosides, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol.

Results

Conclusion