ArticleInfection2026
Pediatric meningoencephalitis in the molecular diagnostic era: epidemiological insights from 1198 suspected cases in Germany between 2016 and 2024.
Article in Infection, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Antibiotic use in children with suspected CNS infection in the molecular diagnostic era: a cohort study of 1198 children.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2026Article
- Changing Etiological Patterns of Pediatric Meningitis: A Three-Year Experience from a Tertiary Pediatric Emergency Hospital in Romania.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe epidemiology of suspected pediatric meningoencephalitis has changed in the era of conjugate vaccines and multiplex PCR. Updated epidemiologic data are needed to adapt diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms to current practice.
methodsThis retrospective single-center study included children < 18 years who underwent lumbar puncture with cerebrospinal fluid multiplex PCR for suspected central nervous system infection at a tertiary pediatric hospital in Germany between 2016 and 2024. Clinical, laboratory, and outcome data were extracted from electronic medical records. Cerebrospinal fluid was analyzed using the BioFire
resultsAmong 1,198 children, definite bacterial meningitis was diagnosed in 13 (1.1%), definite viral meningitis in 80 (6.7%), aseptic meningitis of unknown etiology in 131 (11.0%), confirmed/probable encephalitis in 53 (4.4%), and possible encephalitis in 34 (2.8%). Bacterial meningitis represented 5.8% of meningitis cases. A causative pathogen was identified in all bacterial cases, most commonly Streptococcus pneumoniae (n = 7). Enterovirus (n = 52) and parechovirus (n = 9) predominated in viral meningitis, while an infectious etiology was identified in only 13/53 confirmed/probable encephalitis cases. The Bacterial Meningitis Score showed 80.0% sensitivity and 57.6% specificity. The recently published UK-ChiMES pre- and post-lumbar puncture scores demonstrated sensitivities of 84.6% and 76.9% and specificities of 86.3% and 92.7%, respectively.
conclusionBacterial meningitis was rare, whereas viral and etiologically unresolved infections predominated despite routine multiplex PCR. Clinical prediction scores supported risk stratification, with the UK-ChiMES pre-lumbar puncture score showing the most favorable sensitivity-specificity balance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.