A Girl with Life Threatening Meningitis Caused by an Infected Dermoid Cyst Derived from an Occult Dermal Sinus

Congenital dermal sinuses are a rare entity of spinal dysraphism. Most patients have cutaneous markers of their presence, including nevus or port wine stains, dimple, hypertrichosis and subcutaneous lipoma. Inclusion tumors, such as dermoid tumor, are associated to dermal sinus tract; they are congenital, benign and slow-growing lesions of midline. Their clinical relevance is due to the possibility of causing infection, spinal abscess, signs of corde or nerve root compression. Spinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the diagnostic tool of choice. We present the case of a child with atypical meningitis, resistant to large spectrum antibiotic therapy, caused by an infected dermoid cyst, undiagnosed in the first months of life despite repeated MRI.