Researchers in the US have devised a new way to help differentiate between two forms of meningitis in children, one of which can be relatively minor and one of which can be fatal.
The new set of guidelines for differentiating between viral and bacterial meningitis have been evaluated on more than 3,000 children attending hospital emergency departments across the States over a 3½-year period and have been found to be extremely effective.
It means that children with bacterial meningitis, which can be deadly, can be diagnosed quickly in future. Traditionally a laboratory diagnosis could take days.
If children have viral meningitis, treating them is simple and they don't have to stay in hospital. But if they have bacterial meningitis they must receive intravenous antibiotics as soon as possible. Doctors unsure of which type of meningitis a child has would usually start all children with suspected meningitis on antibiotics, just to be safe, while they await laboratory test results to confirm which type they are treating. To culture a sample in the laboratory can take two to three days.
But researchers at the Children's Hospital in Boston, who were part of a nationwide research network that developed a set of information that predicts which meningitis cases are likely not to be bacterial, say that in future their findings will save many children with viral meningitis getting antibiotics unnecessarily. Overuse of antibiotics for viral infections can increase resistance over time.
The findings of the US study have just been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The data set which doctors trying to differentiate between the two forms of meningitis should now look for if they want to find patients who are at low risk of having bacterial meningitis include absence of a seizure as well as defined blood and spinal fluid tests.
These tests were found to be 99.9 per cent accurate and "could guide decision-making and limit unnecessary hospital admissions and prolonged antibiotic use" in children, the report said.
Irish hospitals see hundreds of children with symptoms of meningitis every year. More than 250 cases of bacterial meningitis were reported here in 2005.
The symptoms of viral meningitis include high temperature,severe headache, stiff neck, dislike of bright lights, drowsiness, confusion, nausea and vomiting. Because the symptoms of bacterial meningitis may be identical, it is important that anyone with a child who they think may have meningitis seeks medical help as soon as possible.