Neonatal meningitis

Neonatal meningitis is a serious medical condition in infants. Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges (the protective membranes of the central nervous system (CNS)) and is more common in the neonatal period (infants less than 44 days old) than any other time in life and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Mortality is roughly half in developing countries and ranges from 8%-12.5% in developed countries.

Symptoms seen with neonatal meningitis are often unspecific that may point to several conditions, such as sepsis (whole body inflammation). These can include fever, irritability, and dyspnea. The only method to determine if meningitis is the cause of these symptoms is lumbar puncture (LP; an examination of the cerebrospinal fluid).

The most common causes of neonatal meningitis is bacterial infection of the blood, known as bacteremia (specifically Group B Streptococci (GBS; ), Escherichia coli, and Listeria monocytogenes). Although there is a low mortality rate in developed countries, there is a 50% prevalence rate of neurodevelopmental disabilities in E. coli and meningitis, while having a 79% prevalence for non-E. coli Gram-negative caused meningitis. Delayed treatment of neonatal meningitis may cause include cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness, and learning deficiencies.

The following is a list of common signs and symptoms found with neonatal meningitis.

Unfortunately these symptoms are unspecific and may point to many different conditions.

Laboratory features that are characteristic of neonatal bacterial meningitis include:

Neonatal meningitis is mostly caused by Group B (GBS; 39%-48% of cases), Escherichia coli (30%-35%), Other Gram-negative rods (8%-12%), (~6%), and Listeria monocytogenes (5%-7%). Most neonatal meningitis results from bacteremia (bacterial infection of the blood)

...
Wikipedia