Neonatal meningitis: small babies, big problem

Abstract

All physicians fear missing a meningitis diagnosis, because it is such a devastating disease. Every physician that has witnessed an apparently healthy newborn baby developing a bombing fontanel, nuchal rigidity, and even opisthotonus within only a few hours' after birth is haunted by feelings of powerlessness to safeguard a vulnerable baby from probable brain damage or death. World Meningitis Day on April 24 is intended to raise awareness for this disease. Mortality, neurodevelopmental impairments, and economic outcomes after invasive group B streptococcal disease in early infancy in Denmark and the Netherlands: a national matched cohort studyiGBS disease, especially meningitis, was associated with increased mortality and a higher risk of NDIs in later childhood. This previously unquantified burden underlines the case for a maternal GBS vaccine, and the need to track and provide care for affected survivors of iGBS disease. Full-Text PDF Open Access