Systematic review: neonatal meningitis in the developing world

Abstract

SummaryMeningitis is more common in the neonatal period than any other time in life and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Despite the majority of the burden occurring in the developing world, the majority of the existing literature originates from wealthy countries. Mortality from neonatal meningitis in developing countries is estimated to be 40-58%, against 10% in developed countries. Important differences exist in the spectrum of pathogens isolated from cerebrospinal fluid cultures in developed versus developing countries. Briefly, while studies in developed countries have generally found Group B streptococcus (GBS), Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes as important organisms, we describe how in the developing world results have varied; particularly regarding GBS, other Gram negatives (excluding E. coli), Listeria and Gram-positive organisms. The choice of empiric antibiotics should take into consideration local epidemiology if known, early versus late disease, resistance patterns and availability within resource constraints. Gaps in knowledge, the role of adjuvant therapies and future directions for research are explored.

Antibacterial activity of Tribulus terrestris methanol extract against clinical isolates of Escherichia coli

“…Escherichia coli is the major cause of many different infectious diseases in humans and animals [6][7][8][9][10] and the most common bacteria isolated from patients with urinary tract infections [11,12]. It is also the major cause of nosocomial blood [13], nosocomial neonatal [14] and genital tract [13] infections, and also many other lethal infections in humans and animals.…”

“…Regardless of the critical role of E. coli in lethal infections, the appearance of multidrug resistant E. coli occurs in different parts of the world [8,15,16]. Furthermore, these treatments are associated with undesired adverse effects in humans and animals [17].…”

Strategies for the Prevention of Meningitis

“…The ability to adhere to or penetrate the mucosa, or to survive and multiply in blood or infect organs (especially the brain) are commonly-recognized virulence factors that, like epidemiology, may differ among strains, serogroups or types of encapsulated bacteria within a species (1,5,24,(28)(29)(30)(31)(32). Susceptibility to disease or asymptomatic carriage may coincide or occur in distinct population groups (Table 4).…”

The microbiology and clinical characteristics of bacterial and fungal meningitis in a Chinese hospital

“…In spite of the harm caused by bacterial and fungal meningitis, the contribution of pathogens to meningitis remains poorly described in many regions of the various developing countries [14]. So we conducted the present study to investigate the frequency and antibiotic resistance of pathogens isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid samples (CSF) of patients admitted to Xiangya Hospital of Central South University with suspected meningitis and analyze the clinical and laboratory characteristics of bacterial and fungal meningitis to determine the utility of clinical and laboratory parameters in assessing the suspected causative microorganism.…”