Serotypes and Serogroups implicated in Bacterial meningitis across Ghana

BackgroundBacterial meningitis is a dangerous infection that can kill children and adults alike. An estimated 1.2 million instances of bacterial meningitis are anticipated to occur globally each year, despite the discovery of polysaccharide and conjugate vaccines in recent years [1]. The study aimed to find out which bacteria isolates are linked to meningitis and to compare the culture method to the rT-PCR method. MethodThis study examined data on bacterial meningitis from the Ghana Health Services Public Health Division from 2015 to 2019. Patients information was collected from case-based forms held at the Tamale Public Health and Reference Laboratory. The data from the case-based forms was transcribed into a pre-designed Microsoft Excel template. For analysis, the data was cleaned and loaded into Minitab version 18. ResultsThere were 2,446 CSM cases documented in all, 34.4 percent were confirmed. Males (52.7%) were more suspected than females (47.3%). Age group 15-44 were affected most (37.5%). The predominant pathogens were Neisseria meningitidis (W135) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (St.1) with NMX, St.14, St.19, and St. 12F/12A/12b as new emerging strains. Notwithstanding that, low NPV (72.6%), NLR (0.69), and sensitivity (31.8%) of culture method for detected pathogens of bacterial meningitis were found to produce a statistically significant false negatives compared to the gold standard (rT-PCR). ConclusionEmergence of new strains of bacterial meningitis and the false negative results chained out by the culture method is alarming.