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Neonatal Group A Streptococcus Meningitis. Case Report and Literature Review

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Abstract

Group A streptococci (GAS) have previously accounted for a large portion of invasive neonatal infections, but differences in the access to medical care and in the antibiotic used over the last half century has significantly reduced such cases. A literature review reveals 17 neonatal GAS meningitis reports with positive CSF cultures since 1967, characterized by high morbidity and mortality. We present a case of a 10-day old well-appearing neonate diagnosed with GAS meningitis, exhibiting an excellent response to antimicrobial therapy. Epidemiological investigation revealed her mother as the likely source of postnatal transmission of GAS with an emm1.0 subtype. GAS meningitis is a rare cause of neonatal meningitis associated with high morbidity and mortality warranting further research assessing potential risk factors, modes of transmission, and therapeutic protocols.

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Abbreviations

CDC:

Centers for disease control and prevention

CSF:

Cerebrospinal fluid

GAS:

Group a streptococcus

SIADH:

Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Ziv Medical Center, Derech HaRambam, Tzfat, 13100, Safed, IL, Israel

    Tomer Talmy, Elad Mazor, Ehsan Nasser & Anthony Luder

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel

    Tomer Talmy

  3. Ben-Gurion University Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School, Be’er-Sheva, Israel

    Elad Mazor

  4. The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel

    Anthony Luder

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  1. Tomer Talmy
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  2. Elad Mazor
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Contributions

T.T.: Conceived and drafted the manuscript, performed literature search and article selection. E.M.: Collected patient clinical data and aided in article selection and review. E.N.: Collected and analyzed microbiological data presented in the study. A.L.: Reviewed the manuscript, supervised article selection and review, approved final draft of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tomer Talmy.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Talmy, T., Mazor, E., Nasser, E. et al. Neonatal Group A Streptococcus Meningitis. Case Report and Literature Review. SN Compr. Clin. Med. 2, 472–477 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-020-00255-7

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