These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: [Brain abscesses due to Listeria monocytogenes].
    Author: Adeva-Bartolomé MT, de Castro-García FJ, Castellanos-Pinedo F, Zurdo-Hernández JM.
    Journal: Rev Neurol; ; 40(4):219-21. PubMed ID: 15765316.
    Abstract:
    INTRODUCTION: Listeria monocytogenes is a gram-positive bacillus which causes sporadic infections in immunocompromised humans, with a special propensity for the central nervous system, in the form of acute, subacute or chronic meningitis, rhombencephalitis or abscesses in the brain or spinal cord. The final diagnosis is established by germ culture in blood or in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Preferred treatment is ampicillin in association with aminoglycosides. CASE REPORT: We report the case of a 70-year-old male patient with a history of arterial hypertension and chronic lymphatic leukaemia with no specific treatment, who suffered meningoencephalitis and brain abscesses caused by L. monocytogenes. Symptoms were a 48-hour history of headache and a febrile condition. The CSF showed lymphocytic pleocytosis with hypoglycorrhachia. Magnetic resonance scans of the brain revealed areas of cerebritis and multiple brain abscesses in the right frontal lobe. Specific treatment was established with ampicillin for 13 weeks, associated with gentamicin and vancomycin during the first few weeks, until x-rays showed the lesions to be resolved. CONCLUSIONS: L. monocytogenes infections must be investigated in all patients with cellular immunosuppression who present febrile symptoms. The central nervous system may be the only area of the body infected. Moreover, this site will need studying in patients who present neurological focus data or an alteration in the state of consciousness and bacteraemia due to L. monocytogenes. Establishing suitable treatment as early as possible can improve the prognosis.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]