Abstract
Background Bacterial meningitis is still a major public health threat in developing countries. It is an overwhelming infection with a high morbidity and mortality rate, especially in neonates. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and etiological agents that cause bacterial neonatal meningitis at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH).MethodsThis is a retrospective analysis of 1189 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens submitted to the bacteriology laboratory of TASH for culture from 2001 to 2010. All newborns younger than 29 days old that were suspected for bacterial meningitis cases were included in the study.ResultsBased on CSF culture, 56 newborns were identified as having bacterial meningitis from a total of 1189 suspected cases. The overall prevalence of neonatal bacterial meningitis from the total suspected cases was 4.7%. The organisms identified and their prevalence rates were Streptococcus pneumoniae 13 (23%), Escherichia coli 9 (16%), Acinetobacter 7 (13%), Neisseria meningitides 5 (9%), Klebsiella spp. 5 (9%), Staphylococcus aureus 3 (5%) and Streptococcus pyogen 3 (5%). There were two (4%) cases each that was caused by Coagulase-Negative-Staphylococcus and Non-Group-A-Streptococcus, while 1 (2%) caused by Haemophilus influenzae. S. pneumoniae was the main etiological agent identified from CSF culture. The male to female ratio was 1:0.88 (53% were male). The birth weights of 34 (61%) patients were under 2500 g, and 22 (39%) patients had normal birth weights. Twenty-seven (48%) were early onset cases, and 29 (52%) were late-onset.Conclusion Streptococcus pneumoniae and Escherichia coli were the two main etiological agents for neonatal bacterial meningitis infection in the study area.
Highlights
Bacterial meningitis is still a major public health threat in developing countries
The result of this study revealed that S. pneumoniae and E. coli were the two main etiological agents for neonatal bacterial meningitis infections at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH)
In this study the major organisms responsible for neonatal bacterial meningitis were S. pneumonia 13 (23%), E. coli 9 (16%), Acinetobacter 7 (13%), N. meningitidis (9%), Klebsiella spp. 5 (9%), S. aureus 3 (5%), S. pyogen 3 (5%), Coagulase-Negative-Staphylococcus (4%), Non-GroupA-Streptococcus (4%), while 1 (2%) caused by H. influenzae
Summary
Bacterial meningitis is still a major public health threat in developing countries. It is an overwhelming infection with a high morbidity and mortality rate, especially in neonates. Acute bacterial meningitis occurs more commonly during the first month of life than any other subsequent period and it is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Neonatal meningitis is an important cause of morbidity. The incidence of neonatal meningitis in western countries varies from 0.2 to 0.5 cases per 1000 live births but much higher rates of 1.1–1.9 per 1000 have been reported from developing countries (Laving et al 2003). Two-thirds of meningitis deaths in low income countries occur among children under 15 years of age (Meenakshi et al 2009).
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