A rare case of neonatal meningoencephalitis from Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus

Laura S. Smallcomb; Terry C. Dixon; Kamran N. Azad; Whitney E. Marvin

doi:10.1099/acmi.0.000430

Volume 4, Issue 12

Case Report

Open Access

A rare case of neonatal meningoencephalitis from Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus

Laura S. Smallcomb¹, Terry C. Dixon², Kamran N. Azad³ and Whitney E. Marvin⁴
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Affiliations: ¹ PGY-4 Department of Medicine and Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, SJCH, 10 McClennan Banks Dr. MSC 915. Charleston, SC 29425, USA ² Department of Pediatrics. Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 96 Jonathan Lucas St., Rm 428C CSB. Charleston, SC 29425, USA ³ Quest Diagnostics, 33608 Ortega Highway, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675, USA ⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Critical Care. Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 125 Doughty Street MSC 917. Charleston, SC 29425, USA
*Correspondence: Laura S. Smallcomb, [email protected];[email protected]
Published: 05 December 2022 https://doi.org/10.1099/acmi.0.000430

Abstract

Paenibacillus infections can be life threatening and are being reported with increasing incidence. There are only a few case reports of infections and are mainly described in patients who are immunocompromised, injection drug users, or those with prosthetic devices. Due to improved testing and identification, it appears that these infections may not be as rare as once perceived. We present a case of a 16-day-old term neonate who presented with status epilepticus and was found to have Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus meningoencephalitis. The patient was successfully treated with a combination of ampicillin and ceftazidime then meropenem. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of an infant in the United States who survived this serious invasive infection. We also present an option for therapy given the difficulty treating invasive intracranial infections.

Received: 23/02/2022
Accepted: 22/11/2022
Published Online: 05/12/2022

Keyword(s): encephalitis , meningitis , meropenem , neonate and Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.

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A rare case of neonatal meningoencephalitis from Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus

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Volume 4, Issue 12

Case Report

Open Access

A rare case of neonatal meningoencephalitis from Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus

Abstract

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