Topics in Clinical Microbiology Flavobacterium Meningosepticum

Flavobacterium meningosepticum , found as a saprophyte in water, soil and the hospital environment, has a relatively short history as a human pathogen. In 1944 Shulman and Johnson reported a case of meningitis in a premature infant due to an unidentified gram-negative bacillus. The term Flavobacterium meningosepticum for that organism was proposed by King in 1959 in her study of a group of previously unclassified bacteria associated with meningitis in infants. The term Flavobacterium —“yellow bacteria”—describes the yellow pigment often associated with members of this genus and meningosepticum describes the strains associated with infant meningitis. Although F. meningosepticum is not commonly considered a human pathogen, it has caused a variety of nosocomial infections including meningitis, postoperative bacteremia, and endocarditis. Most hospital outbreaks of F. meningosepticum infection involve meningitis in newborns and have been linked to environmental sources, mainly water-containing equipment. These outbreaks of neonatal meningitis tend to be severe with a high mortality rate and serious neurological sequelae in surviving patients.