{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T05:14:38Z","timestamp":1778130878144,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":13,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1778112000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Candida albicans<\/jats:italic>\n                    (\n                    <jats:italic>C. albicans<\/jats:italic>\n                    ) meningoencephalitis is a rare but diagnostically challenging infection that usually occurs in immunocompromised individuals, although life-threatening disease can also develop in immunocompetent patients. The absence of specific clinical features and the limited sensitivity of conventional microbiological methods frequently lead to diagnostic delays. We describe a 79-year-old woman with no known immunodeficiency who presented with symptoms initially suggestive of bacterial meningitis and failed to improve after empirical ceftriaxone, meropenem, and vancomycin therapy, while repeated blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures remained negative. Her history of endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery raised concern for an atypical postoperative infection. Targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) of the CSF subsequently provided important etiological evidence for\n                    <jats:italic>C. albicans<\/jats:italic>\n                    and supported timely initiation of amphotericin B deoxycholate and flucytosine, followed by oral fluconazole, resulting in marked clinical and biochemical improvement. This case highlights the diagnostic difficulty of intracranial Candida infection. In this patient, CSF tNGS provided important etiological evidence when routine microbiological tests remained negative and contributed to timely targeted antifungal treatment.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1747908","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T04:54:45Z","timestamp":1778129685000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Post-endoscopic neurosurgical Candida albicans meningoencephalitis diagnosed by targeted next-generation sequencing: a case report"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Luwen","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology, Suining Central Hospital","place":["Suining, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yalin","family":"Xi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology, Suining Central Hospital","place":["Suining, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ming","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology, Suining Central Hospital","place":["Suining, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Linlin","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology, Suining Central Hospital","place":["Suining, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ping","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Suining Central Hospital","place":["Suining, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"170","DOI":"10.1007\/s12281-012-0094-x","article-title":"Recent taxonomic developments with Candida and Other opportunistic yeasts","volume":"6","author":"Brandt","year":"2012","journal-title":"Curr Fungal Infect Rep"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1007\/s15010-018-1152-2","article-title":"Neuroinfections caused by fungi","volume":"46","author":"G\u00f3ralska","year":"2018","journal-title":"Infection"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.1038\/s41368-023-00245-0","article-title":"Artemisinins inhibit oral candidiasis caused by Candida albicans through the repression on its hyphal development","volume":"15","author":"Liang","year":"2023","journal-title":"Int J Oral Sci"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"11362","DOI":"10.21037\/apm-21-2577","article-title":"Candida central nervous system infection after neurosurgery: a single-institution case series and literature review","volume":"10","author":"Chen","year":"2021","journal-title":"Ann Palliat 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(Lausanne)"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"229","DOI":"10.1007\/s13312-019-1505-7","article-title":"Diagnosis of invasive fungal infections in children","volume":"56","author":"Seth","year":"2019","journal-title":"Indian Pediatr"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"263","DOI":"10.18502\/ijm.v16i2.15361","article-title":"Time to positivity of blood cultures causing candidemia and its relation to mortality","volume":"16","author":"Sachu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Iran J Microbiol"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"705","DOI":"10.1080\/21505594.2016.1261789","article-title":"Role of microglia in fungal infections of the central nervous system","volume":"8","author":"Koutsouras","year":"2017","journal-title":"Virulence"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"27365","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-025-11834-w","article-title":"Comparative diagnostic performance of metagenomic and two targeted sequencing methods in lower respiratory infection","volume":"15","author":"Yi","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sci Rep"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"325","DOI":"10.1186\/s12967-025-06342-4","article-title":"Integrating DNA and RNA sequencing for enhanced pathogen detection in respiratory infections","volume":"23","author":"Gu","year":"2025","journal-title":"J Transl Med"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"18026","DOI":"10.1038\/nrdp.2018.26","article-title":"Invasive candidiasis","volume":"4","author":"Pappas","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nat Rev Dis Primers"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Medicine"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fmed.2026.1747908\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T04:54:57Z","timestamp":1778129697000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fmed.2026.1747908\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]]},"references-count":13,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fmed.2026.1747908"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fmed.2026.1747908","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-858X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-858X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]]},"article-number":"1747908"}}