CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID SHUNT INFECTION SECONDARY TO ESCHERICHIA-COLI BACTERIURIA

A 10-year-old girl with a lumbosacral myelomeningocele, managed with c lean intermittent catheterization, presented with headache, vomiting, and lethargy. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and urine cultures reveale d Escherichia coli, documented to be the same subtype. The organisms w ere subtyped and the E. coli from both the urine and CSF were noted to be of the same strain. Management consisted of intravenous antibiotic s and ultimate replacement of the ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Children with myelodysplasia and CSF shunts should be carefully monitored in a multidisciplinary fashion to anticipate, correctly diagnose, and trea t CSF shunt infections associated with bacteriuria.