The patient had been admitted to the Department of Infectious Diseases and Febrile Conditions of the General Hospital on 26 December 2010, with fever (39.9 °C but no chills), headache, mild sore throat and muscular pain since approximately six hours. He had no underlying chronic conditions and had been healthy previously.
When examined, the patient presented meningeal symptoms (nuchal rigidity, Kernig and Brudzinski signs). His throat was mildly reddened, but there were no other symptoms. Laboratory findings showed mild leukocytosis, but neutrophils was predominating (Table). Samples for blood cultures were taken upon admission.