Dr Shaik Sumayyah Banu¹, Dr D SudhaMadhuri¹* and Dr P Shashikala Reddy²

¹Department of Clinical Microbiology, Niloufer Hospital for Women and Children, Hyderabad, India
²Department of Clinical Microbiology, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, India

*Corresponding Author: Dr D SudhaMadhuri, Department of Clinical Microbiology, Niloufer Hospital for Women and Children, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, India.

Received: October 20, 2021 ; Published: November 12, 2021

Abstract

Background: Meningitis continues to be a serious public health problem that requires early prompt diagnosis and treatment. There is a need for a periodic review of meningitis since the pathogens responsible for the infection vary with time, geography, and patient age. The aim of this study is to identify the aetiological agents in suspected paediatric meningitis cases attending tertiary care hospital.

Methods: This cross- sectional study was conducted for a period of one year (August 2018-2019) in the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Niloufer hospital for Women and Children, Hyderabad after obtaining clearance from institutional ethical committee. Out of 135 suspected meningitis cases, 79 were enrolled into the study based on inclusion criteria. CSF samples collected by Lumbar Puncture and were processed immediately by standard conventional techniques for identification of bacteria, fungi, parasites and ELISA for IgM antibodies against viral antigens of HSV 2, VZV, EV 71. The demographic data and associated laboratory findings were analysed in detail.

Results: Out of 79 samples, 32 (40.5%) were confirmed as meningitis of bacteria and viral aetiology. No fungal and parasitic agents were identified. Prevalence of viral meningitis (32.9%) was found to be more than bacterial meningitis (7.5%). The most common viral agent was HSV2 (61.5%) followed by VZV (38.4%). Among bacterial pathogens, Gram negative organisms (66.6%) were more than Gram positive organisms(33.3%).Infants and neonates were most commonly affected. Out of 15 districts covered, maximum number of viral meningitis cases were reported in and around Hyderabad during spring and winter seasons.

Conclusion: To conclude, Viruses played a predominant role as compared to bacteria in paediatric meningitis and this was dictated by factors like endemicity, geography and season. There is a need for more studies to identify the emerging aetiologies of paediatric meningitis.

Keywords: Paediatrics; Viral Meningitis; HSV2; VZV; Bacterial Meningitis

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Citation

Citation: Dr Shaik Sumayyah Banu., et al. “Aetiology of Meningitis in Paediatric Age Group at a Tertiary Care Centre in Hyderabad, India - A Cross Sectional Study”. Acta Scientific Microbiology 4.12 (2021): 27-31.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Dr D SudhaMadhuri., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.