Meningitis following spinal anesthesia: 6 Cases in 5 years

Lisa Rubin, Hannah Sprecher, Ahmed Kabaha, Gabriel Weber, Nava Teitler, Shmuel Rishpon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We describe 6 cases of meningitis after spinal anesthesia associated with a single anesthesiologist over the course of 5 years. The earliest case occurred in 2000, and the other 5 cases occurred over the course of 14 months in 2004-2005. The case identified in 2000 was culture-positive for Streptococcus salivarius. The other 5 cases were culture-negative for this organism but in 2 cases, the cerebrospinal fluid was found to be positive for bacterial DNA that was identified as belonging to S. salivarius by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The association with a single anesthesiologist and a single hospital during a relatively short interval, however, lead us to believe that these occurrences are part of a series associated with possible violations of aseptic technique.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1187-1190
Number of pages4
JournalInfection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
Volume28
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Epidemiology
  • Microbiology (medical)
  • Infectious Diseases

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