The Impact and Burden of Neurological Sequelae Following Bacterial Meningitis: A Narrative Review
Open accessAbstract
The burden, impact, and social and economic costs of neurological sequelae following meningitis can be devastating to patients, families and communities. An acute inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, meningitis results in high mortality rates, with over 2.5 million new cases of bacterial meningitis and over 236,000 deaths worldwide in 2019 alone. Up to 30% of survivors have some type of neurological or neuro-behavioural sequelae. These include seizures, hearing and vision loss, cognitive impairment, neuromotor disability and memory or behaviour changes. Few studies have documented the long-term (greater than five years) consequences or have parsed out whether the age at time of meningitis contributes to poor outcome. Knowledge of the socioeconomic impact and demand for medical follow-up services among these patients and their caregivers is also lacking, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Within resource-limited settings, the costs incurred by patients and their families can be very high. This review summarises the available evidence to better understand the impact and burden of the neurological sequelae and disabling consequences of bacterial meningitis, with particular focus on identifying existing gaps in LMICs.
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PCR assay acts independently of bacterial growth.
“This assay acts independently of bacterial growth, and detection of small amounts of pathogen DNA from non-viable bacteria could potentially facilitate diagnosis in culture-negative cases [3].”
From Frequency of etiological agents of acute bacterial meningitis using culture and polymerase chain reaction assay (2021) · cites this paper as [3]
Detection of small amounts of pathogen DNA from non-viable bacteria could potentially facilitate diagnosis in culture-negative cases.
“This assay acts independently of bacterial growth, and detection of small amounts of pathogen DNA from non-viable bacteria could potentially facilitate diagnosis in culture-negative cases [3].”
From Frequency of etiological agents of acute bacterial meningitis using culture and polymerase chain reaction assay (2021) · cites this paper as [3]
PCR-based assays of CSF are a rapid, sensitive, direct and specific diagnostic test for bacterial meningitis.
“PCR-based assays of CSF have been suggested as a rapid, sensitive, direct and specific diagnostic test for bacterial meningitis.”
From Frequency of etiological agents of acute bacterial meningitis using culture and polymerase chain reaction assay (2021) · cites this paper as [3]
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“toll on patients and healthcare systems (2).”
- Authors
- Schiess, N., Groce, N. E., & Dua, T.
- Affiliations
- World Health Organization (CH)
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Schiess, Nicoline
- Venue
- Microorganisms
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-04-22
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 900
- ISSN
- 2076-2607 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8145552
- OpenAlex
- W3154677181
- Cited by
- 85
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4
- FWCI
- 1.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Microorganisms (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- World Health Organization
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Bacterial Infections and Vaccines
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Infectious Encephalopathies and Encephalitis
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Infectious Diseases and Tuberculosis
- Keywords
- bacterial meningitis, neurological sequelae, long-term outcomes, seizures, hearing loss, vision loss, cognitive impairment, neuromotor disabilities, socioeconomic burden, caregiver burden, low- and middle-income countries, age at infection, resource-limited settings
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