Carpi, a case of meningitis with pneumococcal bacteria – SulPanaro

A case of pneumococcal bacterial meningitis in a 48-year-old man residing in Carpi: the examinations, arrived this afternoon, have already allowed the exclusion of meningococcus as a triggering factor and no antibiotic prophylaxis is therefore necessary on the patient's contacts. This was announced by a press release from the company Usl.

The report had arrived in the early hours of Tuesday, November 27 at the Public Health Service of the local health authority of Modena. The patient was brought to a Red Cross ambulance at Carpi Rescue Center last night at about 10:00 pm, where bacterial meningitis was suspected from the first badessment. Once the samples needed to confirm the diagnosis and identification of the triggering bacterium (etiological agent) were taken, the man was immediately hospitalized in intensive care, in accordance with the precautionary procedures and the following. Isolation provided by the protocols of the company. Currently, its conditions are serious, but stationary.

The speed of the diagnosis posed in the PS – explains the note – allowed to limit to the minimum the contacts within the hospital and the adoption of precautionary measures by those who took care of the patient. The USL Public Health Department immediately began the epidemiological investigation, pending the examination (molecular biology) of the liquor which, received early in the after-the-fact noon, attributed the cause of meningitis to pneumococcus and not to meningococcus, thereby ruling out the need for antibiotic prophylaxis for contacts. As a precautionary measure during the night, however, prophylaxis was administered to Red Cross volunteers and to health personnel who badisted.

Meningitis

Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes (meninges) that surround the brain and spinal cord. This may be due to different micro-organisms: bacteria, viruses, fungi; the only one that requires a prophylactic intervention between close contacts of the patient is bacterial meningitis caused by a meningococcus. For the identification of the etiological agent (cause), diagnostic investigations are necessary: ​​from the clinical point of view, in fact, these diseases have a symptomatology that is not very specific for each etiological agent.