Listeric meningitis in the non-compromised host

A small epidemic of listeric infection among non-compromised adults recently occurred in the western part of Sweden. All ten patients survived and the prognosis of listeric meningitis in non-compromised patients would seem to be considerably better than in the compromised host. A rapid initiation of ampicillin treatment (10-20 mg/kg of body weight daily) within 48 hours after onset of symptoms may be contributed to the excellent outcome in the present series besides a well-functioning intracellular killing mechanism which seems to be of the greatest importance in listeric infeciton.