Bacterial meningitis: the end of the beginning?

Characteristics and outcome of spontaneous bacterial meningitis in patients with diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND

Studies on bacterial meningitis in diabetics patients versus non-diabetics are scarce. In patients with diabetes, bacterial meningitis may have a different presentation, etiology and course. We analyzed and compared the characteristics and outcome of spontaneous BM in adult patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM).

METHODS

We performed a single-center, prospective observational cohort study, conducted between 1982 and 2017, in a tertiary university hospital in Barcelona (Spain). The primary outcome measure was in-hospital mortality.

RESULTS

We evaluated 715 episodes of bacterial meningitis; 106 patients (15%) had diabetes mellitus. Patients with diabetes were older (median 67 [IQR 17] vs 49 [IQR 40] years, p <  0.001) and more often had a Charlson comorbidity score of ≥3 (40% vs 15%, p <  0.001). Neck stiffness (56% vs 75%, p <  0.001), headache (41% vs 78%) p <  0.001), nausea and/or vomiting (32% vs 56% p < 0.001), and rash (12% vs 26%, p = 0.007) were less frequent in diabetics, whereas altered mental status was more common. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Listeria meningitis were the most common etiologic agents (24 and 18%, respectively). Listeria was more frequent (18% vs. 10%, p = 0.033), whereas meningococcal meningitis was less frequent (10% vs 32%, p < 0.001). Overall mortality was higher in patients with diabetes (26% vs 16%, p = 0.025) concerning non-diabetics.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with bacterial meningitis and diabetes mellitus are older, have more comorbidities, and higher mortality. S. pneumoniae and L. monocytogenes are the predominant pathogens, Listeria being more common, whereas Neisseria meningitidis is significantly less frequent than in non-diabetics.

Standing on the shoulders of giants: two centuries of struggle against meningococcal disease

Meningococcal disease was first clinically characterised by Gaspard Vieusseux in 1805, and its causative agent was identified by Anton Weichselbaum in 1887, who named it Diplococcus intracellularis menigitidis. From the beginning, the disease was dreaded because of its epidemic nature, predilection for previously healthy children and adolescents, and high mortality. In the last decade of the 19th century, the concept of serum therapy for toxin-related bacterial diseases was identified. This concept was applied to meningococcal disease therapy, in an independent way, by Wilhelm Kolle, August von Wasserman, and Georg Jochmann in Germany, and Simon Flexner in the USA, resulting in the first successful approach for the treatment of meningococcal disease. During the first three decades of the 20th century, serum therapy was the standard treatment for meningococcal disease. With the advent of sulphamides first and then antibiotics, serum therapy was abandoned. The great challenges that infectious diseases medicine is facing and the awaiting menaces in the future in terms of increasing antibiotic resistance, emergence of new pathogens, and re-emergence of old ones without effective therapy, make passive immunotherapy a promising tool. Acknowledging the achievements of our predecessors might teach us some lessons to bring light to our future.