Meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis: case report and review of the literature

A case of purulent meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis type 2 (group R streptococcus) is described. It occurred in a 69-year-old farmer's wife who raised pigs on her farm. Here, as well as in nearly all other cases of S. suis meningitis reported to date, close occupational contact with pigs or pork preceded the infection; this epidemiological link can be explained by the frequent occurrence of S. suis as a commensal and opportunistic pathogen in pigs. Up until now, S. suis infection in man has been rare and has had a good prognosis. However, disturbances of the eighth cranial nerve have been found in many patients, even causing permanent deafness in some. These and other clinical, epidemiological and microbiological features of S. suis disease in man are discussed here.