ArticleSouthern African journal of infectious diseases2024
Enhanced pathogen identification among patients with clinically suspected meningitis.
Article in Southern African journal of infectious diseases, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Viral meningitis in Sub-Saharan Africa: trends in prevalence, etiologies, and diagnostic approaches.Virology journal · 2025Pooled it
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Delayed or incorrect treatment of meningitis may result in adverse patient outcomes. However, laboratory testing in resource-limited settings is often limited to conventional diagnostic methods. We explored the utility of syndromic molecular assays for diagnosis. Objectives: We tested cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens collected from patients with clinically suspected meningitis submitted to a tertiary hospital laboratory in January 2021 - May 2021. Primary microbiological analysis (culture, Gram stain and cytochemical analysis) was performed as part of routine testing. Method: Residual CSF specimens were tested using a bacterial triplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and a syndromic multi-pathogen real-time PCR assay for the detection of up to 18 bacterial and viral pathogens. Pathogen detection was compared between conventional and molecular assays. Results: A potential pathogen was detected in 6% (12/188) and 47% (89/188) of specimens on the triplex and the multi-pathogen assay, respectively. Epstein-Barr virus (49/188; 26%), human herpes virus 7 (22/188; 12%), herpes simplex virus 1 (13/188; 7%) and Conclusion: The use of molecular tests improved pathogen detection by 39% when paired with routine methods. Contribution: Multi-pathogen molecular testing is useful for rapidly diagnosing meningitis cases.
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