Bacillus cereus Meningoencephalitis in Preterm Infants: Neuroimaging Characteristics

brain. Preterms are more prone for nosocomial infections with pathogens other than Group B streptococci and Escherichia coli. In this report we focus on the deleterious clinical course and imaging characteristics of proven Bacillus cereus meningoencephalitis. METHODS: We collected 3 cases of proven Bacillus cereus meningoencephalitis. In the medical records we focused on prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal risk factors. Imaging data of several brain ultrasounds, MR images, and diffusion-weighted images were reevaluated. RESULTS: The ultrasound and MR images show a typical pattern of mainly hemorrhagic and early cavitating, selective white matter destruction. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of this paradigm of acquired brain injury may help to better understand the natural course of these severe neonatal infections. Infections of the neonatal central nervous system (CNS) may have major clinical consequences (1). Sheth (2) found an incidence of CNS infection of 1.3 % in a group of 4164 neonates in a neonatal intensive care unit (2) Recently Stoll et al describe