Etiologic diagnosis of Capnocytophaga canimorsus meningitis by broad-range PCR.

The article reports the case of a 54-year-old patient with bacteremia and meningitis after a dog bite, in which the etiologic diagnosis was difficult to establish. Retrospective Gram stain of the gram-negative bacteria colonies that grew in both the CSF culture media and in an aerobic blood-culture flask showed gram-negative rods with fusiform shapes suggestive of a Capnocytophaga sp. The patient's condition improved rapidly after administration of ceftriaxone therapy for 13 days. He was discharged 1 day after treatment ended.