[Meningitis due to Capnocytophaga canimorsus with misleading initial digestive symptom].

Abstract

We set out a case of Capnocytophaga canimorsus septicemia complicated by a meningitis in a chronic alcoholic male pensioner. The Capnocytophaga canimorsus bacterium contaminated the patient after his dog licked little varicose wounds. Initial symptoms led to a digestive infectious syndrome. Capnocytophaga canimorsus grows more slowly than usual bacteria and appeals to a bacteriological deductive reflection which is provided in this article for its identification in a general hospital. In order not to lose time with that infection which can be lethal, we describe the patient's ground, clinical signs which can be expected and we propose a probabilistic antibiotic therapy while waiting for the laboratory diagnosis.