We evaluated the efficacy of linezolid treatment in 6 children with health care-associated meningitis or ventriculitis (HCAMV) caused by gram-positive cocci. All children were diagnosed and treated at the Ehime University Hospital between January 2010 and December 2017. Of these, 5 were treated with linezolid as an empirical therapy. In these 5 patients, vancomycin was initially used but was changed to linezolid because of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture positivity (n = 3) and a high minimum inhibitory concentration of vancomycin (n = 2). The most common HCAMV pathogens were methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (n = 3). In 3 patients, vancomycin concentration was low in CSF but reached the target concentration in serum, while linezolid concentration was high in both CSF and serum. HCAMV treatment using antimicrobial agents with poor CSF penetration may increase the likelihood of therapy failure. Linezolid is more susceptible as the first-line treatment for HCAMV compared with vancomycin.
Keywords: central nervous system infection; cerebrospinal fluid penetration; health care–associated meningitis; linezolid; nosocomial meningitis; vancomycin.