Other Foci of Infections in Community Acquired Central Nervous System Infections

The data related to the distribution of other focal infections in central nervous system (CNS) infection patients is inconsistent in medical literature. Infectious Diseases International Research Initiative (ID-IRI) has been carrying on multicenter and multinational studies since 2008 and provided bulk of information on pneumococcal meningitis, brucellar meningitis, tuberculous meningitis, and herpetic meningoencephalitis as the largest case series in the literature. In this study, the databases of ID-IRI studies were reanalyzed and one fourth of pneumococcal and brucellar meningitis patients, and slightly less than half of tuberculous meningitis patients had another focal involvement out of CNS. Herpetic meningoencephalitis had only 7% coexistent other focal involvement. Consequently, the treating clinician should not undervalue the presence of another site of involvement in a CNS infection patient. Hence, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions for other site of involvement in due course of CNS infectious diseases should seriously be taken into consideration.