The microbiology and clinical characteristics of bacterial and fungal meningitis in a Chinese hospital

Abstract

A b s t r a c t Introduction:The aim was to investigate the distribution, antibiotic resistance, initial clinical and laboratory characteristics of pathogens isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid samples (CSF). Material and methods: The CSF were subjected for identification. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of antimicrobial agents were tested. The initial clinical and laboratory characteristics were collected. Results: The rate of positive yield of pathogen meningitis in our study was 8.16% . Among the 1994 non-repetitive pathogens, Gram-positive pathogen was the most common (71.71%), followed by Gram-negative pathogen (20.36%), fungal (6.62%) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (1.30%). Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) was the most common Gram-positive pathogen and Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab) was the most common Gram-negative pathogen. As to fungal pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans (CN) was the most common. The main CNS showed higher antimicrobial resistant rate for Penicillin G, oxacillin, clindamycin and erythromycin. Acinetobacter baumannii resistant to the most tested antibiotics and only showed considerable rate of resistance to cefoperazone/sulbactam, tigecycline and amikacin. All CN were susceptible to 5-fluorocytosine and only 3.6% CN were resistance to fluconazole. Long days of hospital stay, fever and meningeal irritation signs were common symptoms in the bacterial and fungal meningitis. Head injury, disturbance of consciousness, the pupil size of both eyes was not equal, pupillary reaction to light was slow or absent were more common in the Ab meningitis. The CSF protein concentration and white blood cells count as well as glucose concentration can be used in guiding initial treatment and further microbiological investigation. Conclusions: The main pathogens showed higher antimicrobial resistant rate and the selection of empiric antibiotics should take into consideration local epidemiology, antibiotic resistance patterns and the suspected causative microorganism.

Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) meningitis: a narrative review of the literature from 2000 to 2020

“…Globally, different microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites can cause meningitis [ 82 , 83 ]. Bacterial meningitis occurs among all age groups, especially during childhood [ 84 ].…”

Difference in hematocrit and plasma albumin levels as an additional biomarker in the diagnosis of infectious disease

“…There are many efforts aiming to identify a useful marker for quick diagnosis, treatment and follow-up in the cases of severe infections and other diseases in clinical practice [2,4,6,13,[16][17][18][19][20]. In this study, we examined the possibility of using HCT-ALB as a marker to aid in the diagnosis of severe infections.…”

“…Inclusion criteria: All patients were adults. For the infected patient group (group 1), patients were selected based on the clinical diagnosis and positive culture results (including bacteria and fungi investigations [16] in blood, sputum, midstream urine, pleural effusion and secretions). For the non-infected patient group (group 2), patients were selected based on the review of medical notes and laboratory results by an investigator who found no evidence of infectious cause and the most likely diagnosis fell into ICD-10 non-communicable disease category.…”

Downregulation of long non-coding RNA B-Raf proto-oncogene-activated non-coding RNA reverses cisplatin resistance in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

“…However, the overuse of therapy accelerated the process of generating drug tolerance, leading to an obstacle for a favorable therapeutic outcome [ 28 ]. After pathogens, such as HPV and EBV, make contact with the drug many times, the sensitivity of tumor cells was reduced or even disappeared, resulting in the reduction or invalidation of the drug to the pathogens [ 2 , 29 ]. Drug resistance of tumor cells is the central barrier for the medical domain to treat laryngeal carcinoma, and continuous use of the drug often hinders treatment results [ 16 , 30 ].…”