The bacteriology laboratory of the Institut Pasteur de Bangui reports a rare observation of meningitis due to Burkholderia cepacia.

Burkholderia cepacia is an environmental bacterium, naturally resistant to many antibiotics. Usually non-pathogenic, it sometimes causes opportunistic infections in people in poor health. This bacterial species, some strains of which have epidemic potential, is also responsible for problematic nosocomial infections because they are difficult to treat.

In March 2016, a three-year-old boy, residing in the village of Bongonon, in the north of the Central African Republic, with a feverish meningeal syndrome (fever, stiff neck and altered general condition) was hospitalized at MSF-Spain. As part of the seasonal meningitis surveillance activity, a sample of the patient's cerebrospinal fluid was sent to the bacteriology laboratory at the Institut Pasteur de Bangui. In the absence of blood sampling, it was not possible to determine the patient's HIV status.

The results of bacteriological culture, confirmed by sequencing, revealed a strain of Burkholderia cepacia resistant to most antibiotics, with the exception of cotrimoxazole. This is the first published case of meningitis caused by Burkholderia cepacia in the Central African Republic and developing countries. Read the scientific publication