Serratia Spp. Meningitis in A Child with Venticulo-Peritoneal Shunt

Serratia species are opportunistic, gram-negative, motile bacteria classified in the large family Enterobacteriaceae and differentiate from Klebsiella spp. with slow fermenting lactose and DNAase positive (1,2). One of the characteristics of Serratia bacteria that distinguishes them from other bacteria is to synthesize the red pigments, prodigiosins. It can cause nosocomial infections especcialy in newborns and patients in intensive care units. Serratia spp.; responsible for approximately 2% of nosocomial infections; has been reported as the responsible agent especially in respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections and bacteremia. An outbreak of S. marcescens blood stream infection has been identified in patients receiving contaminated parenteral nutrition bags (2). It has been reported to cause S. marcescens meningitis, wound infections, arthritis and outbreaks in pediatric wards (3). In this text we aimed to present a three and a half year old girl case of acute bacterial meningitis due to Serratia spp. with ventriculo-peritoneal shunt.