Evidence Hub

Clinical Characteristics and Prognostic Indicators in Listeria Monocytogenes Meningoencephalitis: A Retrospective Case Series and Literature Review

Li C, Liu M, Ji Y, Pang S, Tian J, Li X, Zhang M, Gu Y et al.

2025

18 participants

Abstract

Abstract Background Listeria monocytogenes meningoencephalitis (LMM) is a rare but severe central nervous system (CNS) infection. This study aimed to characterize the clinical manifestations, diagnostic findings, treatment responses, and prognostic factors associated with LMM. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 13 patients diagnosed with LMM at Xuzhou Medical University Affiliated Hospital between 2018 and 2023. An additional five cases were identified through a literature search in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang databases from 2019 to 2022. Clinical features, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood test results, imaging findings, treatments, and outcomes were summarized. Results Among 18 patients (11 males, 7 females; mean age 51.6 ± 17.2 years), all had acute onset with fever (100%), headache (83.3%), and altered consciousness (77.8%). CSF analysis showed elevated pressure in 83.3%, increased leukocytes and protein in all cases, and variable glucose levels. LM was cultured from CSF in 10 patients and detected via metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in 12. Imaging findings included hydrocephalus in 4 cases and meningeal enhancement in 2 case. Full recovery was observed in 2 cases, improvement in 9, palliative care in 3, and death in 4. Early seizures and hydrocephalus were linked to worse outcomes. Conclusion Listeria monocytogenes meningoencephalitis is a rapidly progressive CNS infection with variable…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a case series, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health. Reported size: 18 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free