Clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment of central nervous system sporotrichosis: Systematic review and meta‐analysis.

Background: The clinical features of central nervous system (CNS) sporotrichosis are derived from case reports and a limited series of cases. Our objective was to carry out a systematic review and meta‐analysis of CNS sporotrichosis. Methods: We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and LILACS on 9 September 2023. Our inclusion criteria were documentation of Sporothrix and demonstrated CNS involvement. A metaproportion or metamean analysis was performed to estimate a summary proportion with 95% confidence intervals. Results: We included 52 cases of CNS sporotrichosis published from 1966 to 2023. Forty‐six patients were male (88%, 95% CI: 77–95), and the mean age was 39 years (95% CI: 36–43). Close contact with cats was reported in 55% of cases (95% CI: 37–72). Thirty‐two (61.5%) patients were from Brazil, 18 patients from the United State of America (34.6%). Only two Sporothrix species were reported: S. schenckii (26/41, 63%), and S. brasiliensis (15/41, 37%). The most common neurological symptom was headache. Meningitis was chronic in approximately 80% of cases. A significant majority of the patients were immunocompromised. HIV infection was the primary cause of immunosuppression (85%, 95% CI: 61–95). Overall mortality was 56% (22/39). The comparison of Kaplan–Meier survival curve showed a higher mortality with a statistically significant difference in immunosuppressed patients (p =.019). Conclusion: CNS sporotrichosis represents a notable cause of chronic meningitis, especially in individuals living in the Americas with HIV infection and concurrent skin lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]