Diagnostic prediction models for bacterial meningitis in children with a suspected central nervous system infection: a systematic review and prospective validation study.

Objectives: Diagnostic prediction models exist to assess the probability of bacterial meningitis (BM) in paediatric patients with suspected meningitis. To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of these models in a broad population of children suspected of a central nervous system (CNS) infection, we performed external validation.

Methods: We performed a systematic literature review in Medline to identify articles on the development, refinement or validation of a prediction model for BM, and validated these models in a prospective cohort of children aged 0-18 years old suspected of a CNS infection.

Global Case Fatality of Bacterial Meningitis During an 80-Year Period: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Importance: The impact of vaccination, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory treatment on pathogen distribution and outcome of bacterial meningitis over the past century is uncertain.

Objective: To describe worldwide pathogen distribution and case fatality ratios of community-acquired bacterial meningitis.

Data Sources: Google Scholar and MEDLINE were searched in January 2022 using the search terms bacterial meningitis and mortality.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical characteristics and outcomes of adult pneumococcal meningitis patients - a Dutch prospective nationwide cohort study.

Purpose: To investigate clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with pneumococcal meningitis during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: In a Dutch prospective cohort, risk factors and clinical characteristics of pneumococcal meningitis episodes occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic (starting March 2020) were compared with those from baseline and the time afterwards. Outcomes were compared with an age-adjusted logistic regression model.

Prospective multicenter evaluation of adherence to the Dutch guideline for children aged 0-16 years with fever without a source-febrile illness in children (FINCH) study.

Unlabelled: Evaluation of guidelines in actual practice is a crucial step in guideline improvement. A retrospective evaluation of the Dutch guideline for children with fever without an apparent source (FWS) showed 50% adherence in young infants. We prospectively evaluated adherence to the Dutch guideline and its impact on management in current practice.

Recurrent bacterial meningitis in children in the Netherlands: a nationwide surveillance study.

Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the recurrence rate of culture-positive bacterial meningitis in children in the Netherlands.

Design: Nationwide surveillance study, using the database of the Netherlands Reference Laboratory for Bacterial Meningitis to identify patients with culture-positive bacterial meningitis during childhood.

Setting: The study was based in the Netherlands.

Characteristics and prognostic factors of bacterial meningitis in the intensive care unit: a prospective nationwide cohort study.

Background: Patients with bacterial meningitis can be severely ill necessitating intensive care unit (ICU) treatment. Here, we describe clinical features and prognostic factors of adults with bacterial meningitis admitted to the ICU in a nationwide prospective cohort study.

Methods: We prospectively assessed clinical features and outcome of adults (age > 16 years) with community-acquired bacterial meningitis included in the MeninGene study between March 1, 2006 and July 1, 2022, that were initially admitted to the ICU.

Meeting report: Towards better risk stratification, prevention and therapy of invasive GBS disease, ESPID research meeting May 2022.

The European Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) hosted the third Group B Streptococcus (GBS) Research Session in Athens on 11th May 2022, providing researchers and clinicians from around the world an opportunity to share and discuss recent advances in GBS pathophysiology, molecular and genetic epidemiology and how these new insights can help in improving prevention and control of early- and late-onset GBS disease. The meeting provided a state-of-the-art overview of the existing GBS prevention strategies and their limitations, and an opportunity to share the latest research findings. The first presentation provided an overview of current GBS prevention and treatment strategies.

Epidemiology, clinical features and outcome of adults with meningococcal meningitis: a 15-year prospective nationwide cohort study.

Background: We describe the epidemiology, clinical features and outcome of adult meningococcal meningitis in the Netherlands over a 15-year period.

Methods: We studied adults (age ≥ 16 years) who were listed by the Netherlands Reference Laboratory for Bacterial Meningitis and/or included in the prospective nationwide cohort study (MeninGene) between January 2006 and July 2021. Incidences were calculated per epidemiological year (July-June).

Long-term impact of serious neonatal bacterial infections on neurodevelopment.

Background: Neonatal bacterial infections have long been recognized as an important cause of acute morbidity and mortality, but long-term neurodevelopmental consequences have not been comprehensively described and discussed.

Objectives: We aimed to summarize evidence on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and epidemiology of long-term sequelae after neonatal bacterial sepsis and meningitis. We also discuss approaches for future studies to quantify the public health impact of neonatal infection-associated neurodevelopmental impairment.

Group B Early-Onset Disease: New Preventive and Diagnostic Tools to Decrease the Burden of Antibiotic Use.

The difficulty in recognizing early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS) in a timely manner due to non-specific symptoms and the limitations of diagnostic tests, combined with the risk of serious consequences if EONS is not treated in a timely manner, has resulted in a low threshold for starting empirical antibiotic treatment. New guideline strategies, such as the neonatal sepsis calculator, have been proven to reduce the antibiotic burden related to EONS, but lack sensitivity for detecting EONS. In this review, the potential of novel, targeted preventive and diagnostic methods for EONS is discussed from three different perspectives: maternal, umbilical cord and newborn perspectives.

A risk score for identifying patients at a low risk of bacterial meningitis amongst adults with cerebrospinal fluid leucocytosis and a negative gram stain result: a derivation and validation study.

Objectives: We aimed to derive and validate a risk score to differentiate patients with bacterial meningitis from those with viral meningitis or encephalitis amongst patients presenting with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leucocytosis and a negative Gram staining result.

Methods: We included adults with bacterial and viral meningitis or encephalitis presenting with CSF leukocyte counts of >10 per mm and a negative Gram staining result from cohorts in Houston, Texas (2004-2019), and the Netherlands (2012-2021). Derivation and the first validation were performed in the American patients and further validation in the Dutch patients.

Differences in systemic and mucosal SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in a prospective cohort of Dutch children.

Background: As SARS-CoV-2 will likely continue to circulate, low-impact methods become more relevant to monitor antibody-mediated immunity. Saliva sampling could provide a non-invasive method with reduced impact on children. Studies reporting on the differences between systemic and mucosal humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2 are inconsistent in adults and scarce in children.

Current treatment practice of functional abdominal pain disorders in children: A multicenter survey.

Background: Approximately 90% of the children with chronic abdominal pain are diagnosed as having functional abdominal pain disorder (FAPD). The Dutch guideline "functional abdominal pain" provides a stepwise approach to treat FAPD. The aim of this survey was twofold first, to determine adherence to the Dutch guideline, and second to determine current management of FAPDs in clinical practice.

Population genomics of Group B Streptococcus reveals the genetics of neonatal disease onset and meningeal invasion.

Group B Streptococcus (GBS), or Streptococcus agalactiae, is a pathogen that causes preterm births, stillbirths, and acute invasive neonatal disease burden and mortality. Here, we investigate bacterial genetic signatures associated with disease onset time and meningeal tissue infection in acute invasive neonatal GBS disease. We carry out a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 1,338 GBS isolates from newborns with acute invasive disease; the isolates had been collected annually, for 30 years, through a national bacterial surveillance program in the Netherlands.

Identification of a Novel Variant in a Family with Varying Degrees of Aldosterone Synthase Deficiency.

Isolated aldosterone synthase deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by pathogenic variants in , resulting in impaired aldosterone synthesis. We report on a neonate with isolated aldosterone synthase deficiency caused by a novel homozygous variant Chr8:NM_000498.3:c.

Short-term and long-term risk of mortality and neurodevelopmental impairments after bacterial meningitis during infancy in children in Denmark and the Netherlands: a nationwide matched cohort study.

Background: Few studies have reported the long-term consequences of bacterial meningitis during infancy, and studies that have been done usually do not include a comparison cohort. We aimed to assess short-term and long-term risk of mortality, neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI), and health-care use and household income in cohorts of children with and without a history of bacterial meningitis during infancy in Denmark and the Netherlands.

Methods: In this nationwide cohort study, infants with a history of bacterial meningitis before age 1 year were identified through the Danish Medical Birth Registry and Danish National Patient Registry using International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes and through the Netherlands Reference Laboratory for Bacterial Meningitis.

Group B streptococcus infection during pregnancy and infancy: estimates of regional and global burden.

Background: Group B streptococcus (GBS) colonisation during pregnancy can lead to invasive GBS disease (iGBS) in infants, including meningitis or sepsis, with a high mortality risk. Other outcomes include stillbirths, maternal infections, and prematurity. There are data gaps, notably regarding neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI), especially after iGBS sepsis, which have limited previous global estimates.