Neonatal Bacterial Meningitis

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Abstract
Despite improvements in neonatal intensive care, neonatal bacterial meningitis continues to be a serious disease with mortality rates varying between 10 and 15%. Additionally, long-term complications are observed among 20–50% of survivors, depending on time of diagnosis and therapy and virulence of the infecting pathogen. It is more common during the neonatal period than at any other age with the estimated incidence of 0.25 per 1000 live births. The absence of specific clinical presentation makes diagnosis of meningitis more difficult in neonates than in older children. Culture of cerebrospinal fluid is the traditional gold standard for diagnosis of bacterial meningitis, so all newborn infants with proven or suspected sepsis should undergo lumbar puncture. However, deciding when to perform lumbar puncture and interpretation of the results are challenging. Although the pathophysiology of neonatal meningitis is complex and not fully understood, researches on diagnostic and prognostic tools are ongoing. Prevention of neonatal sepsis, early recognition of infants at risk, development of novel, rapid diagnostics and adjunctive therapies, and appropriate and aggressive antimicrobial treatment to sterilize cerebrospinal fluid as soon as possible may prevent the lifelong squeal of bacterial meningitis in newborn infants.