Candida meningitis in children: report of two cases.

Candida meningitis is rare in children. However reports have been increasing recently. We report two cases of meningitis caused by Candida species. The first case was a term male infant who was admitted at 14 days of age with the diagnosis of possible sepsis. He had received multiple courses of antibiotics without improvement. Later his cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture grew Candida tropicalis. The damage done by the infection was severe and the patient died. The second case was a 2-month old girl who was born at 34 weeks of gestation. She was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and given antibiotics as prophylaxis. Despite this she developed recurrent episodes of fever that required multiple courses of antibiotics. After discharging her, she continued to have fever. Upon investigation, her blood and CSF grew Candida albicans. She was treated and responded to therapy.