The Origin of the Idea That Herpes Labialis Is of Prognostic Importance in Bacterial Meningitis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the work was to study the origin of the idea that herpes labialis (HL) in patients with pneumonia and meningitis was believed to be of prognostic importance. BACKGROUND: HL is caused by a primary infection or reactivation of herpes simplex type I. In the past, it has been related to pneumonia and meningitis; moreover, HL was believed to be of prognostic importance. METHODS: A selection of 19th- and 20th-century textbooks and referred articles was consulted. The relation between meningitis and herpes, type of meningitis, and attributed diagnostic and prognostic importance were studied. In addition, the HL-pneumonia association was studied. RESULTS: The Strasbourg physician Charles-Polydore Forget was the first to describe the HL-meningitis association in 1843. Tourdes (1843), Drasche (1859), and Salomon (1864) attributed a favorable prognostic importance to the HL-meningitis relation. In a comprehensive monograph (1866), August Hirsch, although confirming the association, denied the prognostic importance through critical analysis of the data. Few authors attributed a diagnostic importance to the occurrence of HL, suggesting meningococcal meningitis. CONCLUSIONS: The HL-meningitis relation, but not the prognostic importance, has been mentioned in most neurological textbooks since then. In contrast to meningitis, in which a prognostic attribution of HL was only a short-lived 19th-century idea, the favorable prognostic importance of HL in pneumonia continued to be described until the 1950s. A possible protective effect of herpesviruses has been found in recent years. One could speculate that the disappearance of the prognostic HL-pneumonia relation could be related to the introduction of antibiotics in the late 1940s.

The Strengthening of Laboratory Systems in the Meningitis Belt to Improve Meningitis Surveillance, 2008-2018: A Partners' Perspective.

Laboratories play critical roles in bacterial meningitis disease surveillance in the African meningitis belt, where the highest global burden of meningitis exists. Reinforcement of laboratory capacity ensures rapid detection of meningitis cases and outbreaks and a public health response that is timely, specific, and appropriate. Since 2008, joint efforts to strengthen laboratory capacity by multiple partners, including MenAfriNet, beginning in 2014, have been made in countries within and beyond the meningitis belt. Over the course of 10 years, national reference laboratories were supported in 5 strategically targeted areas: specimen transport systems, laboratory procurement systems, laboratory diagnosis, quality management, and laboratory workforce with substantial gains made in each of these areas. To support the initiative to eliminate meningitis by 2030, continued efforts are needed to strengthen laboratory systems.

Epidemiology of Bacterial Meningitis in the Nine Years Since Meningococcal Serogroup A Conjugate Vaccine Introduction, Niger, 2010-2018.

BACKGROUND: In 2010, Niger and other meningitis belt countries introduced a meningococcal serogroup A conjugate vaccine (MACV). We describe the epidemiology of bacterial meningitis in Niger from 2010 to 2018. METHODS: Suspected and confirmed meningitis cases from January 1, 2010 to July 15, 2018 were obtained from national aggregate and laboratory surveillance. Cerebrospinal fluid specimens were analyzed by culture and/or polymerase chain reaction. Annual incidence was calculated as cases per 100 000 population. Selected isolates obtained during 2016-2017 were characterized by whole-genome sequencing. RESULTS: Of the 21 142 suspected cases of meningitis, 5590 were confirmed: Neisseria meningitidis ([Nm] 85%), Streptococcus pneumoniae ([Sp] 13%), and Haemophilus influenzae ([Hi] 2%). No NmA cases occurred after 2011. Annual incidence per 100 000 population was more dynamic for Nm (0.06-7.71) than for Sp (0.18-0.70) and Hi (0.01-0.23). The predominant Nm serogroups varied over time (NmW in 2010-2011, NmC in 2015-2018, and both NmC and NmX in 2017-2018). Meningococcal meningitis incidence was highest in the regions of Niamey, Tillabery, Dosso, Tahoua, and Maradi. The NmW isolates were clonal complex (CC)11, NmX were CC181, and NmC were CC10217. CONCLUSIONS: After MACV introduction, we observed an absence of NmA, the emergence and continuing burden of NmC, and an increase in NmX. Niger's dynamic Nm serogroup distribution highlights the need for strong surveillance programs to inform vaccine policy.

Bacterial Meningitis Epidemiology in Five Countries in the Meningitis Belt of Sub-Saharan Africa, 2015-2017.

BACKGROUND: The MenAfriNet Consortium supports strategic implementation of case-based meningitis surveillance in key high-risk countries of the African meningitis belt: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Togo. We describe bacterial meningitis epidemiology in these 5 countries in 2015-2017. METHODS: Case-based meningitis surveillance collects case-level demographic and clinical information and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) laboratory results. Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, or Haemophilus influenzae cases were confirmed and N. meningitidis/H. influenzae were serogrouped/serotyped by real-time polymerase chain reaction, culture, or latex agglutination. We calculated annual incidence in participating districts in each country in cases/100 000 population. RESULTS: From 2015-2017, 18 262 suspected meningitis cases were reported; 92% had a CSF specimen available, of which 26% were confirmed as N. meningitidis (n = 2433; 56%), S. pneumoniae (n = 1758; 40%), or H. influenzae (n = 180; 4%). Average annual incidences for N. meningitidis, S. pneumoniae, and H. influenzae, respectively, were 7.5, 2.5, and 0.3. N. meningitidis incidence was 1.5 in Burkina Faso, 2.7 in Chad, 0.4 in Mali, 14.7 in Niger, and 12.5 in Togo. Several outbreaks occurred: NmC in Niger in 2015-2017, NmC in Mali in 2016, and NmW in Togo in 2016-2017. Of N. meningitidis cases, 53% were NmC, 30% NmW, and 13% NmX. Five NmA cases were reported (Burkina Faso, 2015). NmX increased from 0.6% of N. meningitidis cases in 2015 to 27% in 2017. CONCLUSIONS: Although bacterial meningitis epidemiology varied widely by country, NmC and NmW caused several outbreaks, NmX increased although was not associated with outbreaks, and overall NmA incidence remained low. An effective low-cost multivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine could help further control meningococcal meningitis in the region.

Strongyloidiasis and Culture-Negative Suppurative Meningitis, Japan, 1993-2015.

Community-acquired Enterobacteriaceae infection and culture-negative meningitis are rare and atypical subtypes of meningitis in adults. Of 37 patients who had atypical suppurative meningitis during 1993-2015 in Okinawa, Japan, 54.5% had strongyloidiasis, of which 9.1% cases were hyperinfections and 3.0% dissemination. Strongyloidiasis should be considered an underlying cause of atypical suppurative meningitis.

Acute bacterial meningitis in Iran: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Bacterial meningitis persists in being a substantial cause of high mortality and severe neurological morbidity, despite the advances in antimicrobial therapy. Accurate data has not been available regarding the epidemiology of bacterial meningitis particularly in developing countries, yet. Indeed, the present systematic review provides a comprehensive data analysis on the prevalence and epidemiology of bacterial meningitis in Iran. METHODS: We systematically reviewed articles from 1994 to 2015. The reports which contained the prevalence and etiology of acute bacterial meningitis by valid clinical and laboratory diagnosis were comprised in the present study. RESULTS: Our analysis indicated that Streptococcus pneumoniae (30% [I2 = 56% p < 0.01]), Haemophilus influenza type b (15% [I2 = 82.75% p < 0.001]), coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS) (14% [I2 = 60.5% p < 0.06]), and Neisseria meningitidis (13% [I2 = 74.16% p < 0.001]) were the most common cause of acute bacterial meningitis among meningitis cases in Iran. Notably, high frequency rates of nosocomial meningitis pathogens were detected in the present analysis. CONCLUSIONS: It was magnificently attained that the majority of cases for bacterial meningitis in Iran could be avertable by public immunization schemes and by preventive care to inhibit the broadening of hospital acquired pathogens.

Betamethasone and dexamethasone in adult community-acquired bacterial meningitis: a quality registry study from 1995 to 2014.

Acute bacterial meningitis (ABM) is a highly lethal disease. Available data support the use of corticosteroids in high-income countries, but the effect on mortality is still controversial. The effects of corticosteroids on mortality and sequelae were evaluated in the national Swedish quality registry. In total, during 1995-2014 1746 adults with ABM were included, of whom 989 were treated with corticosteroids (betamethasone, n = 766; dexamethasone, n = 248; methylprednisolone, n = 2), 498 were not given corticosteroids and in 259 patients data for corticosteroids were missing. Fatal outcome was observed in 8.9% of the patients in the corticosteroid-treated group vs. 17.9% in the non-corticosteroid-treated group (p <0.001), resulting in an odds ratio (OR) of 0.57 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.40-0.81 adjusted for age, sex, mental status, and door-to-antibiotic time. In patients with meningitis caused by S. pneumoniae, mortality was 10.2% in the corticosteroid-treated group and 21.3% in the non-corticosteroid-treated group (p <0.001) with an adjusted OR of 0.50 (95% CI 0.31-0.80). In ABM patients with non-pneumococcal aetiology the adjusted OR was 0.71 (95% CI 0.40-1.26). Lower mortality was observed in the corticosteroid-treated group with impaired mental status, whereas no significant difference was found in patients with unaffected mental status. The adjusted ORs for betamethasone and dexamethasone were 0.49 (95% CI 0.28-0.84) and 0.61 (95% CI 0.37-1.01), respectively. Corticosteroid treatment decreases mortality in ABM and should be administered initially with antibiotics in adult ABM patients with impaired mental status regardless of presumed aetiology. Betamethasone seems to be at least as effective as dexamethasone.

A history of acute bacterial meningitis.

Although meningitis was not yet known as such, its symptoms have been conceptualized in different ways and many theories about its causes have been formulated in the course of time. Terms like hydrocephalus and brain fever were used for different clinical manifestations of what today would be recognized as meningitis. Pathological-anatomical findings led to the emergence of the clinical entity from several old concepts of disease. Initially, diagnostic means were limited and therapeutic methods did not differ much from those that had been applied for centuries, even far into the nineteenth century. Discoveries in bacteriology and the introduction of the lumbar puncture provided a new paradigm for knowledge of the pathophysiology and treatment of what then became known with the term meningitis. The development of new therapeutic methods including antiserum, sulfonamides, and penicillin resulted in a decreasing mortality during the past century. Nowadays, with the use of antibiotics, bacterial meningitis can often be cured.

Chapter 28: a history of bacterial meningitis.

Thomas Willis (1621-1675) described patients with, "inflammation of the meninges with a continual fever" as well as an early (1661) epidemic of meningitis. Robert Whytt (1714-1766) provided a classic depiction of tuberculous meningitis and its stages, later extended by John Cheyne (1777-1836). Gaspard Vieusseux (1746-1814) and Andre Matthey (1778-1842) in Geneva, and Elisa North (1771-1843) in Massachusetts, described epidemic (meningococcal) meningitis. Heinrich Quincke (1842-1922) utilized his new technique of lumbar puncture (1891) to provide an early analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). William Mestrezat (1883-1929), and H. Houston Merritt (1902-1979) later compiled large series of CSF profiles in meningitis. Organisms causing meningitis were identified in the late 19th century including Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis and Haemophilus influenzae. Vladimir Kernig (1840-1917) and Josef Brudzinski (1874-1917) described their eponymous signs in 1882 and 1909. Successful treatment of meningitis began with the introduction of serum therapy for meningococcal meningitis by Georg Joachmann (1874-1915) in Germany and Simon Flexner (1863-1946) in America. Antibiotic therapy began in the 20th century with the use of sulfonamides by Francois Schwentker (1904-1954) and penicillin by Chester Keefer (1897-1972). Vaccination against meningitis debuted in the early 20th century, and progressed to the development of vaccines against Neisseria meningitidis and Haemophilus influenzae, which remain mainstays of modern medicine.

Bacterial meningitic deafness: historical development of epidemiology and cellular pathology.

Meningitis resulting in labyrinthitis and its associated hearing loss was first described by several authors during 1864 and 1865 but it was not integrated into the otological cannon until H. Knapp's publications of 1871. These reports were incorporated by St John Rossa in his textbook of 1873. Politzer, in 1882, included a fuller description of the clinical symptoms. Analysis of records of the etiologies of students in 90 schools for the deaf in North America from 1817 to 1893 showed that before the mid-1870s meningitis was rarely identified as an etiology (<1%) but by the 1880s it accounted for 10-20% of all etiologies, with male preponderance. Cellular pathology of meningitic labyrinthitis from the 1860s to the 1990s examined the ways in which bacteria invaded the inner ear. Human temporal bone studies were a major source of understanding of the pathological processes. Honda, in 1927, injected guinea pigs intracranially with live bacteria, and observed the effects on the membranous labyrinth. In 1988 Lebel's observation of the effectiveness of dexamethasone in preventing much deafness from meningitis stimulated the examination of the labyrinthine immune response. Immunological mechanisms can account for some of the variable morbidity of unilateral, progressive, less-than-severe deafness.

The history of bacterial meningitis treatment.

Few diseases have been affected more by the advent of antimicrobial therapy than bacterial meningitis. From its recognition in 1805 to the early 20th century, bacterial meningitis was deadly. The 1940s brought the advent of effective drug therapy. Bacterial meningitis remains common today with growing drug resistance to the disease organisms complicating antibiotic therapy.

As meningites bacterianas e virais no municipio do Rio de Janeiro: segundo semestre de 1978

Pesquisa empreendida pelo Centro Brasileiro de Estudos de Saúde enfocando o surto de meningite viral e bacteriana, ocorrido no segundo semestre de 1978, no Rio de Janeiro, a organização da vigilância epidemiológica, os critérios para diagnóstico diferencial das meningites e os resultados das análises realizadas.(MAM)