meningitis caused by <i>enterococcus gallinarum</i> in an immunocompetent host

Introduction]enterococci are unusual etiological agents of bacterial meningitis. meningitis caused by <i>enterococcus gallinarum</i>, especially those that occur in immunocompetent hosts, is extremely rare. moreover, communityacquired <i>e. gallinarum</i> meningitis might be extremely unexpected for a clinician and therefore easily misdiagnosed and mistreated.[case presentation]a 12yearold boy presented with an acute onset of fever, headache and vomiting. the cerebrospinal fluid culture from lumbar puncture yielded an isolate that was identified as <i>e. gallinarum</i>. the therapeutic regimen was a combination therapy of rifampicin and highdose intravenous penicillin. one day after starting treatment, the patient became afebrile. a repeated lumber puncture two weeks later showed few white blood cells in the csf and no bacterial growth.[conclusions]this case reveals an incident of meningitis caused by <i>e. gallinarum</i> in an immunocompetent host. the combined therapy of rifampicin and highdose intravenous penicillin might be effective for treatment in such a case.