Antimicrobial treatment ofFlavobacterium meningosepticuminfection

A six-month-old boy in hospital developed septicaemia and meningitis due to Flavobacterium meningosepticum type A. Although the organism was susceptible to amikacin, chloramphenicol and sulphonamides when tested by the disc diffusion method, therapy with these drugs was ineffective. Intravenous therapy with cotrimoxazole gave complete recovery. Various strains of flavobacteria including F. meningosepticum type B were isolated from the environment. Antimicrobial susceptibilities of patients and environmental strains against chloramphenicol, sulphonamides and rifampicin showed no correlation between disc diffusion results and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). On the other hand, all the strains were found by both methods to be susceptible to amikacin, erythromycin, clindamycin and trimethoprim. Disc diffusion method should be supplemented with determination of MIC when testing antimicrobial susceptibility of Flavobacterium sp.