Neisseria Meningitidis Causing Multiple Cerebral Abscesses in Early Neonatal Period: Case Report and Review of Literature

Abstract

Neisseria meningitidis is a rare cause of meningitis and septicemia in neonates. There are few published case reports of neonatal meningococcal meningitis complicated by subdural empyema, cerebral abscess and hydrocephalus. Few cases of neonatal meningococcal meningitis have been reported in the literature with none of them having the complication of multiple cerebral abscesses in early neonatal period (<seven days of life). We report a case of meningococcal meningitis with multiple cerebral abscesses which presented on fifth day of life and developed hydrocephalus at five weeks of life requiring a Ventriculo Peritoneal (VP) shunt. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documented case of neonatal meningococcal meningitis with multiple cerebral abscesses.

Keywords

• cerebral abscess
• meningitis
• newborn