Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis Following Completion of Pneumococcal Meningitis Treatment: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) and is commonly seen in children. It has seasonal peaks in winter and spring, consistent with its infectious etiologies, and it rarely occurs as a reaction to vaccination. ADEM is less common in adults and progresses with a more severe clinical course. Cases diagnosed with ADEM by CNS demyelination after streptococcal meningitis have rarely been reported in adult patients. In this report, we present a rare case of a 31-year-old female diagnosed with ADEM following pneumococcal meningitis treatment and treated successfully with low-dose methylprednisolone.

Keywords

• acute disseminated encephalomyelitis
• adem
• meningitis
• streptococcus pneumoniae