Insidious meningitis induced by brucellosis: a case report.

Background: Brucellosis is a rare etiology for chronic neurological infections, posing a diagnostic challenge for patients due to the potential for atypical symptoms.

Case presentation: We are presenting a rare case report of Brucella meningitis. A 25-year-old unmarried Syrian female without any prior medical history presented with a progressive headache that had persisted for over 10 months, accompanied by nausea and vomiting that worsened when lying down. Initially, the diagnosis was attributed to idiopathic intracrainal hypertension due to the absence of systemic symptoms and an incorrect cerebrospinal fluid test. A comprehensive re-evaluation was performed, and Wright test was positive and Brucella antibodies were detected in both blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples. This ultimately confirmed the diagnosis of Brucella meningitis.

Conclusion: Our report emphasizes the importance of considering atypical bacteria as a cause for neuro-infection, and a wide investigation should be conducted to reach an accurate diagnosis and reevaluation of tests when necessary.