Evaluation of Pediatric Central Nervous System Infections with Meningitis Encephalitis Panel

Creative Commons License

İŞERİ NEPESOV M., kara y., KIZIL M. C., BOZAN G., Kiral E., Us T., ...Daha Fazla

Çocuk Enfeksiyon Dergisi, cilt.18, sa.2, ss.69-73, 2024 (ESCI) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 18 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2024
  • Doi Numarası: 10.5578/ced.20240201
  • Dergi Adı: Çocuk Enfeksiyon Dergisi
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, CAB Abstracts, CINAHL, EMBASE, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.69-73
  • Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Objective: Central nervous system (CNS) infections require establishment of urgent diagnosis due to rapid progression leading to mortality or severe permanent sequelae. This study aimed to investigate the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of pediatric patients evaluated with FilmArray, Meningitis Encephalitis Panel (MEP) applied due to suspicion of CNS infection. Material and Methods: A total of 230 pediatric patients who were followed up for suspected CNS infection at the Eskişehir Osmangazi University Medical Faculty and whose cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were analyzed using BioFire Diagnostics, FilmArray,MEP (bioMérieux, Utah, USA) between January 2018 and December 2021 were included in the study. Epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory findings of the patients were retrospectively evaluated. Results: The median age of 115 pediatric patients with CNS infection was 42 (range 1-192) months and 65 (56%) were male. MEP revealed viral agents human herpes virus-6 (HHV-6), enterovirus, varicella zoster virus, cytomegalovirus in 23 and bacterial agents Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus agalactiae in six cases. Pathogenic agents was identified in the conventional CSF culture of five cases in which no causative agent was detected by MEP (five of them were non-panel agents). In two cases, the same pathogenic agents (S. pneumoniae and S. agalactiae) were detected with both MEP and CSF culture. Conclusion: The most common etiological agents in CNS infections in children are viral agents, primarily HHV-6 and enteroviruses, followed by bacterial agents such as S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae. Molecular tests such as MEP are important for the establishment of the diagnosis of central nervous system infections and they can be used together with culture and microscopic tests due to their advantages such as screening many factors at once, identifying both viral and bacterial agents, and yielding rapid results.