Gram-negative bacillary meningitis remains a rare occurrence, even in patients with human immunodeficiency virus. Current literature only describes anecdotal cases of spontaneous nosocomial Proteus mirabilis meningitis. This report describes the clinical manifestations and management of a patient with healthcare-associated spontaneous Gram-negative bacillary meningitis in a patient with advanced human immunodeficiency virus disease.
CASE PRESENTATION
A 23-year-old Congolese female was hospitalized in a human immunodeficiency virus specialized center for ongoing weight loss, chronic abdominal pain, and vomiting 9 months after initiation of treatment for tuberculosis meningitis. Hospitalization was complicated by healthcare-associated Gram-negative bacillary meningitis on day 18. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures confirmed Proteus mirabilis. Antibiotic susceptibility testing showed extended spectrum beta-lactamase resistant to common antibiotics, and sensitive to meropenem. Despite initiation of high-dose meropenem by intravenous infusion (2 g every 8 hours), the patient did not improve, and died after 4 days of meropenem treatment. Gram-negative bacillary meningitis remains rare and is associated with an unfavorable prognosis.
CONCLUSIONS
This case report highlights the importance of microbiological identification of pathogens in resource-limited settings. As Gram-negative bacillary meningitis does not present with pleocytosis in patients with advanced human immunodeficiency virus, a negative lumbar puncture cannot exclude this diagnosis. Access to clinical bacteriology in resource-limited settings is essential to enable correct antibiotic treatment and avoid overuse of antibiotics to which there is already resistance. It further plays an essential role in public health by identifying antibiotic susceptibilities. Infection prevention and control measures must be reinforced in order to protect patients from such avoidable healthcare-associated infections.
OBJECTIVE
The primary objectives of this study were to assess the usefulness of C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) in the diagnosis of bacterial co-infections in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and if their incorporation in antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs is safe and useful, stratified by severity of disease as level of care, intensive care unit (ICU) or non-ICU. Our secondary objectives were to identify cut-off values for antibiotic decision-making and identify reported results from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
DESDIGN
A scoping review of published literature, adhering to the PRISMA statement for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. The last search was performed in January 2024.
RESULTS
Fifty-nine studies were included in this scoping review: 20 studies reporting predictive values and/or sensitivity/specificity results for PCT, 8 reporting clear objectives on AMS, and 3 studies from LMICs.
CONCLUSION
In the context of non-ICU hospitalized COVID-19 patients in high-income countries, a PCT value below 0.25 mg/L can be a useful tool to rule out bacterial co-infection. The wide range of reported negative predictive values suggests that PCT should be interpreted in the context of other clinical findings. Our results do not support the use of CRP in the same manner as PCT. There is a clear need for more studies in LMICs.