Case Report: Brucellosis Mimicking Tuberculous Meningitis in a Child

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2024 Aug 13;111(4):853-855. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.23-0715. Print 2024 Oct 2.

Abstract

Neurobrucellosis is rare in children, presenting with a variety of clinical manifestations, including meningitis, meningoencephalitis, cranial neuropathies, and intracranial mass-like lesions. We present a case of a 17-year-old girl admitted to the hospital in Istanbul for headache. Lumbar puncture showed elevated intracranial pressure, monocytic pleocytosis, elevated total protein, and hypoglycorrhachia. Brucella melitensis grew from the cerebrospinal fluid. The patient was treated with doxycycline, rifampin, amikacin, and ceftriaxone and showed persistent sensorineural hearing loss. It is essential to consider brucellosis in the differential diagnosis of infectious neurological disease in areas where the disease is endemic. Serologic tests and cultures are needed for diagnosis, and efforts need to be made to identify the infecting organism to the species level to guide zoonotic source control efforts.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents* / therapeutic use
  • Brucella melitensis / isolation & purification
  • Brucellosis* / diagnosis
  • Brucellosis* / drug therapy
  • Brucellosis* / microbiology
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Rifampin / therapeutic use
  • Tuberculosis, Meningeal* / diagnosis
  • Tuberculosis, Meningeal* / drug therapy
  • Tuberculosis, Meningeal* / microbiology

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Rifampin