JAC Advance Access originally published online on October 26, 2006
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2006 58(6):1291-1294; doi:10.1093/jac/dkl401
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Evaluation of anti-pneumococcal capsular antibodies as adjunctive therapy in experimental pneumococcal meningitis
1 National Center for Antimicrobials and Infection Control, Statens Serum Institut Artillerivej 5, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark 2 CHIP, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre Kettegaard Allé 30, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark 3 Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark 4 Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre Kettegaard Allé 30, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark 5 Department of Clinical Microbiology, Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev Herlev Ringvej, 2730 Herlev, Denmark
Received 30 May 2006; returned 19 July 2006; revised 6 September 2006; accepted 7 September 2006
*Corresponding author. Tel: +45-32-68-81-83/+45-22-91-44-49; Fax: +45-32-68-32-31; E-mail: ctb{at}ssi.dk
Objective: Bacteraemia concomitant with meningitis has been shown to greatly affect outcome. Consequently, the efficacy of serotype-specific anti-pneumococcal antiserum (APAS) was investigated in a rat model of pneumococcal meningitis.
Methods: Rats were infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3. All rats received ceftriaxone starting 26 h post-infection. APAS was administered either at the time of infection or 26 h post-infection and effects were compared with rats treated with antibiotics only.
Results and conclusion: A significant clinical benefit was found when APAS was given at the time of infection whereas no effect was found when administered 26 h after infection. This work indicates that the clinical value of using APAS in pneumococcal meningitis may be limited.
Keywords: Experimental meningitis , pneumococcal anti-serum , sepsis , outcome