Meningitis as the initial manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus
Nada Al Mahmeed,
Wasim S. El Nekidy,
Rumman Langah,
Ahmad Rakad Nusair
Affiliations
Nada Al Mahmeed
Medical Subspecialties Institute- Department of Hospital Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Wasim S. El Nekidy
Department of Pharmacy Services, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, P. O. Box 112412, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western University, Cleveland, OH, United States
Rumman Langah
Medical Subspecialties Institute- Department of Hospital Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Ahmad Rakad Nusair
Medical Subspecialties Institute- Infectious diseases, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Corresponding author at: Infectious Diseases and Critical Care Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, P. O. Box 112412, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an idiopathic chronic autoimmune disease that can affect multiple organs including the Central Nervous System (CNS). CNS involvement is seen in many SLE patients; however, usually it is preceded by/or in conjunction with other organ-system involvement. The spectrum of CNS involvement is wide and includes numerous neuro-psychiatric syndromes but rarely meningitis. Even when meningitis occurs it is almost never the presenting manifestation of SLE. Our case had chronic aseptic meningitis as the initial and seemingly sole manifestation of SLE, which was erroneously, treated as tuberculous (TB) meningitis.
