WEDNESDAY, Nov. 27, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Meningitis is a substantial contributor to mortality in children younger than 5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries, according to a study published online Nov. 19 in the Journal of Infection.

Sana Mahtab, from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and colleagues assessed the contribution of meningitis to mortality and identified causative pathogens in children younger than 5 years in an observational study. Deaths were analyzed in live-born children younger than 5 years of age that occurred between Dec. 16, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2023, in six sub-Saharan African countries and Bangladesh.

The researchers found that for 7.0 percent of deaths (270/3,857), meningitis was the causal pathway, and meningitis was considered the underlying condition in 4.8 percent (13/270) of these deaths. Neonates and infants/children accounted for 65.9 and 34.1 percent of the 270 deaths, respectively. Among neonatal meningitis deaths, 55.6 percent occurred ≥72 hours post-hospital admission; Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae were common pathogens (49.5 and 40.4 percent, respectively). Overall, 44 percent of neonatal meningitis deaths were community associated, mainly due to K. pneumoniae and Escherichia coli (35.4 and 13.9 percent, respectively). Of the infant and child meningitis deaths, 43.5 percent occurred ≥72 hours post-hospital admission; common pathogens were K. pneumoniae and A. baumannii (42.5 and 17.5 percent, respectively). Streptococcus pneumoniae and K. pneumoniae were common pathogens (34.6 and 19.2 percent, respectively) among community-associated meningitis deaths in infants and children.

“Our findings indicate that meningitis remains a leading cause of mortality among children under 5, with many cases going undiagnosed before death, highlighting the urgent need for improved diagnostic and treatment methods,” the authors write.

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