Fulminant late-onset sepsis due to elizabethkingia meningoseptica in term newborns

Abstract

Elizabethkingia meningosepticum is not usually found in the human body. Just a few cases have been reported in neonates in India to date. We provide a series of two different cases of Elizabethkingia meningoseptica encephalitis that were admitted to our newborn intensive care unit (NICU). At our NICU we observed two cases of Elizabethkingia meningoseptica, during a period of 1 month. Both the babies presented with refractory status epilepticus and decreased feeding. The organism was isolated from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood in the first baby whereas it was isolated from postmortem CSF sample in the second case. In both the cases, the organism was resistant to multiple antibiotics. The first baby was found to have ventriculitis and hydrocephalus and was discharged after complete recovery although had neurological deficits. The second baby presented at 2nd day of life and succumbed to death at 8th day of life. A difficult treatment, poor associated prognosis, and its multidrug resistance warrants a better understanding of the organism.