The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization-Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014-2019

Tomoka Nakamura; Adam L. Cohen; Stephanie Schwartz; Jason M. Mwenda; Goitom Weldegebriel; Joseph N.M. Biey; Reggis Katsande; Amany Ghoniem; Kamal Fahmy; Hossam Abdel Rahman; Dovile Videbaek; Danni Daniels; Simarjit Singh; Annemarie Wasley; Gloria Rey-Benito; Lucia de Oliveira; Claudia Ortiz; Emmanuel Tondo; Jayantha B.L. Liyanage; Mohammad Sharifuzzaman; Varja Grabovac; Nyambat Batmunkh; Josephine Logronio; James Heffelfinger; Kimberly Fox; Linda De Gouveia; Anne von Gottberg; Mignon Du Plessis; Brenda Kwambana-Adams; Martin Antonio; Samaa El Gohary; Aya Azmy; Asmaa Gamal; Elena Voropaeva; Ekaterina Egorova; Yulia Urban; Carolina Duarte; Balaji Veeraraghavan; Samir Saha; Ben Howden; Michelle Sait; Sangoun Jung; Songmee Bae; David Litt; Shila Seaton; Mary Slack; Sebastien Antoni; Mahamoudou Ouattara; Chris Van Beneden; Fatima Serhan

doi:10.1093/infdis/jiab217

The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization-Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014-2019

Tomoka Nakamura, Adam L. Cohen, Stephanie Schwartz, Jason M. Mwenda, Goitom Weldegebriel, Joseph N.M. Biey, Reggis Katsande, Amany Ghoniem, Kamal Fahmy, Hossam Abdel Rahman, Dovile Videbaek, Danni Daniels, Simarjit Singh, Annemarie Wasley, Gloria Rey-Benito, Lucia de Oliveira, Claudia Ortiz, Emmanuel Tondo, Jayantha B.L. Liyanage, Mohammad SharifuzzamanVarja Grabovac, Nyambat Batmunkh, Josephine Logronio, James Heffelfinger, Kimberly Fox, Linda De Gouveia, Anne von Gottberg, Mignon Du Plessis, Brenda Kwambana-Adams, Martin Antonio, Samaa El Gohary, Aya Azmy, Asmaa Gamal, Elena Voropaeva, Ekaterina Egorova, Yulia Urban, Carolina Duarte, Balaji Veeraraghavan, Samir Saha, Ben Howden, Michelle Sait, Sangoun Jung, Songmee Bae, David Litt, Shila Seaton, Mary Slack, Sebastien Antoni, Mahamoudou Ouattara, Chris Van Beneden, Fatima Serhan

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

49 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) coordinates the Global Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network to support vaccine introduction decisions and use. The network was established to strengthen surveillance and laboratory confirmation of meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis.

Methods: Sentinel hospitals report cases of children <5 years of age hospitalized for suspected meningitis. Laboratories report confirmatory testing results and strain characterization tested by polymerase chain reaction. In 2019, the network included 123 laboratories that follow validated, standardized testing and reporting strategies.

Results: From 2014 through 2019, >137 000 suspected meningitis cases were reported by 58 participating countries, with 44.6% (n=61 386) reported from countries in the WHO African Region. More than half (56.6%, n=77 873) were among children <1 year of age, and 4.0% (n=4010) died among those with reported disease outcome. Among suspected meningitis cases, 8.6% (n=11 798) were classified as probable bacterial meningitis. One of 3 bacterial pathogens was identified in 30.3% (n=3576) of these cases, namely S. pneumoniae (n=2177 [60.9%]), H. influenzae (n=633 [17.7%]), and N. meningitidis (n=766 [21.4%]). Among confirmed bacterial meningitis cases with outcome reported, 11.0% died; case fatality ratio varied by pathogen (S. pneumoniae, 12.2%; H. influenzae, 6.1%; N. meningitidis, 11.0%). Among the 277 children who died with confirmed bacterial meningitis, 189 (68.2%) had confirmed S. pneumoniae. The proportion of pneumococcal cases with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) serotypes decreased as the number of countries implementing PCV increased, from 77.8% (n=273) to 47.5% (n=248). Of 397 H. influenzae specimens serotyped, 49.1% (n=195) were type b. Predominant N. meningitidis serogroups varied by region.

Conclusions: This multitier, global surveillance network has supported countries in detecting and serotyping the 3 principal invasive bacterial pathogens that cause pediatric meningitis. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common bacterial pathogen detected globally despite the growing number of countries that have nationally introduced PCV. The large proportions of deaths due to S. pneumoniae reflect the high proportion of meningitis cases caused by this pathogen. This global network demonstrated a strong correlation between PCV introduction status and reduction in the proportion of pneumococcal meningitis infections caused by vaccine serotypes. Maintaining case-based, active surveillance with laboratory confirmation for prioritized vaccine-preventable diseases remains a critical component of the global agenda in public health. The World Health Organization (WHO)-coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network reported data from 2014 to 2019, contributing to the estimates of the disease burden and serotypes of pediatric meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	S161-S173
Number of pages	13
Journal	Journal of Infectious Diseases
Volume	224
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab217
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information: The WHO-coordinated Global IB-VPD
Surveillance Network was supported through the Gavi Alliance’s
Data Strategic Focus Area portion of the Partners’ Engagement
Framework.

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Supplement sponsorship. Supplement sponsorship was from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, grant
number U2GGH002145-02-00.

Open Access: This is an Open Access article distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/) which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Citation: Tomoka Nakamura, Adam L Cohen, Stephanie Schwartz, Jason M Mwenda, Goitom Weldegebriel, Joseph N M Biey, Reggis Katsande, Amany Ghoniem, Kamal Fahmy, Hossam Abdel Rahman, Dovile Videbaek, Danni Daniels, Simarjit Singh, Annemarie Wasley, Gloria Rey-Benito, Lucia de Oliveira, Claudia Ortiz, Emmanuel Tondo, Jayantha B L Liyanage, Mohammad Sharifuzzaman, Varja Grabovac, Nyambat Batmunkh, Josephine Logronio, James Heffelfinger, Kimberly Fox, Linda De Gouveia, Anne von Gottberg, Mignon Du Plessis, Brenda Kwambana-Adams, Martin Antonio, Samaa El Gohary, Aya Azmy, Asmaa Gamal, Elena Voropaeva, Ekaterina Egorova, Yulia Urban, Carolina Duarte, Balaji Veeraraghavan, Samir Saha, Ben Howden, Michelle Sait, Sangoun Jung, Songmee Bae, David Litt, Shila Seaton, Mary Slack, Sebastien Antoni, Mahamoudou Ouattara, Chris Van Beneden, Fatima Serhan, The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization–Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014–2019, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 224, Issue Supplement_3, 1 September 2021, Pages S161–S173,

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab217

Keywords

invasive bacterial disease
meningitis
meningococcal
pneumococcal
pneumococcal conjugate vaccine
surveillance
vaccine preventable disease

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1093/infdis/jiab217Licence: Other

Nakamura2021TheGlobalLandscapeOfPediatricBacterialMeningitisJInfectDisFinal published version, 4.16 MBLicence: Other

Cite this

Nakamura, T., Cohen, A. L., Schwartz, S., Mwenda, J. M., Weldegebriel, G., Biey, J. N. M., Katsande, R., Ghoniem, A., Fahmy, K., Rahman, H. A., Videbaek, D., Daniels, D., Singh, S., Wasley, A., Rey-Benito, G., de Oliveira, L., Ortiz, C., Tondo, E., Liyanage, J. B. L., ... Serhan, F. (2021). The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization-Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014-2019. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 224, S161-S173. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab217

@article{41ca7427ca294582b93ee789d78e210d,

title = "The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization-Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014-2019",

abstract = "Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) coordinates the Global Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network to support vaccine introduction decisions and use. The network was established to strengthen surveillance and laboratory confirmation of meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis. Methods: Sentinel hospitals report cases of children <5 years of age hospitalized for suspected meningitis. Laboratories report confirmatory testing results and strain characterization tested by polymerase chain reaction. In 2019, the network included 123 laboratories that follow validated, standardized testing and reporting strategies. Results: From 2014 through 2019, >137 000 suspected meningitis cases were reported by 58 participating countries, with 44.6% (n=61 386) reported from countries in the WHO African Region. More than half (56.6%, n=77 873) were among children <1 year of age, and 4.0% (n=4010) died among those with reported disease outcome. Among suspected meningitis cases, 8.6% (n=11 798) were classified as probable bacterial meningitis. One of 3 bacterial pathogens was identified in 30.3% (n=3576) of these cases, namely S. pneumoniae (n=2177 [60.9%]), H. influenzae (n=633 [17.7%]), and N. meningitidis (n=766 [21.4%]). Among confirmed bacterial meningitis cases with outcome reported, 11.0% died; case fatality ratio varied by pathogen (S. pneumoniae, 12.2%; H. influenzae, 6.1%; N. meningitidis, 11.0%). Among the 277 children who died with confirmed bacterial meningitis, 189 (68.2%) had confirmed S. pneumoniae. The proportion of pneumococcal cases with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) serotypes decreased as the number of countries implementing PCV increased, from 77.8% (n=273) to 47.5% (n=248). Of 397 H. influenzae specimens serotyped, 49.1% (n=195) were type b. Predominant N. meningitidis serogroups varied by region. Conclusions: This multitier, global surveillance network has supported countries in detecting and serotyping the 3 principal invasive bacterial pathogens that cause pediatric meningitis. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common bacterial pathogen detected globally despite the growing number of countries that have nationally introduced PCV. The large proportions of deaths due to S. pneumoniae reflect the high proportion of meningitis cases caused by this pathogen. This global network demonstrated a strong correlation between PCV introduction status and reduction in the proportion of pneumococcal meningitis infections caused by vaccine serotypes. Maintaining case-based, active surveillance with laboratory confirmation for prioritized vaccine-preventable diseases remains a critical component of the global agenda in public health. The World Health Organization (WHO)-coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network reported data from 2014 to 2019, contributing to the estimates of the disease burden and serotypes of pediatric meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis. ",

keywords = "invasive bacterial disease, meningitis, meningococcal, pneumococcal, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, surveillance, vaccine preventable disease",

author = "Tomoka Nakamura and Cohen, {Adam L.} and Stephanie Schwartz and Mwenda, {Jason M.} and Goitom Weldegebriel and Biey, {Joseph N.M.} and Reggis Katsande and Amany Ghoniem and Kamal Fahmy and Rahman, {Hossam Abdel} and Dovile Videbaek and Danni Daniels and Simarjit Singh and Annemarie Wasley and Gloria Rey-Benito and {de Oliveira}, Lucia and Claudia Ortiz and Emmanuel Tondo and Liyanage, {Jayantha B.L.} and Mohammad Sharifuzzaman and Varja Grabovac and Nyambat Batmunkh and Josephine Logronio and James Heffelfinger and Kimberly Fox and {De Gouveia}, Linda and {von Gottberg}, Anne and {Du Plessis}, Mignon and Brenda Kwambana-Adams and Martin Antonio and {El Gohary}, Samaa and Aya Azmy and Asmaa Gamal and Elena Voropaeva and Ekaterina Egorova and Yulia Urban and Carolina Duarte and Balaji Veeraraghavan and Samir Saha and Ben Howden and Michelle Sait and Sangoun Jung and Songmee Bae and David Litt and Shila Seaton and Mary Slack and Sebastien Antoni and Mahamoudou Ouattara and {Van Beneden}, Chris and Fatima Serhan",

note = "Funding Information: The WHO-coordinated Global IB-VPD Surveillance Network was supported through the Gavi Alliance{\textquoteright}s Data Strategic Focus Area portion of the Partners{\textquoteright} Engagement Framework. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Supplement sponsorship. Supplement sponsorship was from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, grant number U2GGH002145-02-00. Open Access: This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/) which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Citation: Tomoka Nakamura, Adam L Cohen, Stephanie Schwartz, Jason M Mwenda, Goitom Weldegebriel, Joseph N M Biey, Reggis Katsande, Amany Ghoniem, Kamal Fahmy, Hossam Abdel Rahman, Dovile Videbaek, Danni Daniels, Simarjit Singh, Annemarie Wasley, Gloria Rey-Benito, Lucia de Oliveira, Claudia Ortiz, Emmanuel Tondo, Jayantha B L Liyanage, Mohammad Sharifuzzaman, Varja Grabovac, Nyambat Batmunkh, Josephine Logronio, James Heffelfinger, Kimberly Fox, Linda De Gouveia, Anne von Gottberg, Mignon Du Plessis, Brenda Kwambana-Adams, Martin Antonio, Samaa El Gohary, Aya Azmy, Asmaa Gamal, Elena Voropaeva, Ekaterina Egorova, Yulia Urban, Carolina Duarte, Balaji Veeraraghavan, Samir Saha, Ben Howden, Michelle Sait, Sangoun Jung, Songmee Bae, David Litt, Shila Seaton, Mary Slack, Sebastien Antoni, Mahamoudou Ouattara, Chris Van Beneden, Fatima Serhan, The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization–Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014–2019, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 224, Issue Supplement_3, 1 September 2021, Pages S161–S173, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab217",

year = "2021",

month = sep,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1093/infdis/jiab217",

language = "English",

volume = "224",

pages = "S161--S173",

journal = "Journal of Infectious Diseases",

issn = "0022-1899",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

}

Nakamura, T, Cohen, AL, Schwartz, S, Mwenda, JM, Weldegebriel, G, Biey, JNM, Katsande, R, Ghoniem, A, Fahmy, K, Rahman, HA, Videbaek, D, Daniels, D, Singh, S, Wasley, A, Rey-Benito, G, de Oliveira, L, Ortiz, C, Tondo, E, Liyanage, JBL, Sharifuzzaman, M, Grabovac, V, Batmunkh, N, Logronio, J, Heffelfinger, J, Fox, K, De Gouveia, L, von Gottberg, A, Du Plessis, M, Kwambana-Adams, B, Antonio, M, El Gohary, S, Azmy, A, Gamal, A, Voropaeva, E, Egorova, E, Urban, Y, Duarte, C, Veeraraghavan, B, Saha, S, Howden, B, Sait, M, Jung, S, Bae, S, Litt, D, Seaton, S, Slack, M, Antoni, S, Ouattara, M, Van Beneden, C & Serhan, F 2021, 'The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization-Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014-2019', Journal of Infectious Diseases, vol. 224, pp. S161-S173. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab217

The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization-Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014-2019. / Nakamura, Tomoka; Cohen, Adam L.; Schwartz, Stephanie et al.
In: Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 224, 01.09.2021, p. S161-S173.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization-Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014-2019

AU - Nakamura, Tomoka

AU - Cohen, Adam L.

AU - Schwartz, Stephanie

AU - Mwenda, Jason M.

AU - Weldegebriel, Goitom

AU - Biey, Joseph N.M.

AU - Katsande, Reggis

AU - Ghoniem, Amany

AU - Fahmy, Kamal

AU - Rahman, Hossam Abdel

AU - Videbaek, Dovile

AU - Daniels, Danni

AU - Singh, Simarjit

AU - Wasley, Annemarie

AU - Rey-Benito, Gloria

AU - de Oliveira, Lucia

AU - Ortiz, Claudia

AU - Tondo, Emmanuel

AU - Liyanage, Jayantha B.L.

AU - Sharifuzzaman, Mohammad

AU - Grabovac, Varja

AU - Batmunkh, Nyambat

AU - Logronio, Josephine

AU - Heffelfinger, James

AU - Fox, Kimberly

AU - De Gouveia, Linda

AU - von Gottberg, Anne

AU - Du Plessis, Mignon

AU - Kwambana-Adams, Brenda

AU - Antonio, Martin

AU - El Gohary, Samaa

AU - Azmy, Aya

AU - Gamal, Asmaa

AU - Voropaeva, Elena

AU - Egorova, Ekaterina

AU - Urban, Yulia

AU - Duarte, Carolina

AU - Veeraraghavan, Balaji

AU - Saha, Samir

AU - Howden, Ben

AU - Sait, Michelle

AU - Jung, Sangoun

AU - Bae, Songmee

AU - Litt, David

AU - Seaton, Shila

AU - Slack, Mary

AU - Antoni, Sebastien

AU - Ouattara, Mahamoudou

AU - Van Beneden, Chris

AU - Serhan, Fatima

N1 - Funding Information: The WHO-coordinated Global IB-VPD Surveillance Network was supported through the Gavi Alliance’s Data Strategic Focus Area portion of the Partners’ Engagement Framework. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Supplement sponsorship. Supplement sponsorship was from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, grant number U2GGH002145-02-00. Open Access: This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/) which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Citation: Tomoka Nakamura, Adam L Cohen, Stephanie Schwartz, Jason M Mwenda, Goitom Weldegebriel, Joseph N M Biey, Reggis Katsande, Amany Ghoniem, Kamal Fahmy, Hossam Abdel Rahman, Dovile Videbaek, Danni Daniels, Simarjit Singh, Annemarie Wasley, Gloria Rey-Benito, Lucia de Oliveira, Claudia Ortiz, Emmanuel Tondo, Jayantha B L Liyanage, Mohammad Sharifuzzaman, Varja Grabovac, Nyambat Batmunkh, Josephine Logronio, James Heffelfinger, Kimberly Fox, Linda De Gouveia, Anne von Gottberg, Mignon Du Plessis, Brenda Kwambana-Adams, Martin Antonio, Samaa El Gohary, Aya Azmy, Asmaa Gamal, Elena Voropaeva, Ekaterina Egorova, Yulia Urban, Carolina Duarte, Balaji Veeraraghavan, Samir Saha, Ben Howden, Michelle Sait, Sangoun Jung, Songmee Bae, David Litt, Shila Seaton, Mary Slack, Sebastien Antoni, Mahamoudou Ouattara, Chris Van Beneden, Fatima Serhan, The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization–Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014–2019, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 224, Issue Supplement_3, 1 September 2021, Pages S161–S173, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab217

PY - 2021/9/1

Y1 - 2021/9/1

N2 - Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) coordinates the Global Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network to support vaccine introduction decisions and use. The network was established to strengthen surveillance and laboratory confirmation of meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis. Methods: Sentinel hospitals report cases of children <5 years of age hospitalized for suspected meningitis. Laboratories report confirmatory testing results and strain characterization tested by polymerase chain reaction. In 2019, the network included 123 laboratories that follow validated, standardized testing and reporting strategies. Results: From 2014 through 2019, >137 000 suspected meningitis cases were reported by 58 participating countries, with 44.6% (n=61 386) reported from countries in the WHO African Region. More than half (56.6%, n=77 873) were among children <1 year of age, and 4.0% (n=4010) died among those with reported disease outcome. Among suspected meningitis cases, 8.6% (n=11 798) were classified as probable bacterial meningitis. One of 3 bacterial pathogens was identified in 30.3% (n=3576) of these cases, namely S. pneumoniae (n=2177 [60.9%]), H. influenzae (n=633 [17.7%]), and N. meningitidis (n=766 [21.4%]). Among confirmed bacterial meningitis cases with outcome reported, 11.0% died; case fatality ratio varied by pathogen (S. pneumoniae, 12.2%; H. influenzae, 6.1%; N. meningitidis, 11.0%). Among the 277 children who died with confirmed bacterial meningitis, 189 (68.2%) had confirmed S. pneumoniae. The proportion of pneumococcal cases with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) serotypes decreased as the number of countries implementing PCV increased, from 77.8% (n=273) to 47.5% (n=248). Of 397 H. influenzae specimens serotyped, 49.1% (n=195) were type b. Predominant N. meningitidis serogroups varied by region. Conclusions: This multitier, global surveillance network has supported countries in detecting and serotyping the 3 principal invasive bacterial pathogens that cause pediatric meningitis. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common bacterial pathogen detected globally despite the growing number of countries that have nationally introduced PCV. The large proportions of deaths due to S. pneumoniae reflect the high proportion of meningitis cases caused by this pathogen. This global network demonstrated a strong correlation between PCV introduction status and reduction in the proportion of pneumococcal meningitis infections caused by vaccine serotypes. Maintaining case-based, active surveillance with laboratory confirmation for prioritized vaccine-preventable diseases remains a critical component of the global agenda in public health. The World Health Organization (WHO)-coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network reported data from 2014 to 2019, contributing to the estimates of the disease burden and serotypes of pediatric meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis.

AB - Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) coordinates the Global Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network to support vaccine introduction decisions and use. The network was established to strengthen surveillance and laboratory confirmation of meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis. Methods: Sentinel hospitals report cases of children <5 years of age hospitalized for suspected meningitis. Laboratories report confirmatory testing results and strain characterization tested by polymerase chain reaction. In 2019, the network included 123 laboratories that follow validated, standardized testing and reporting strategies. Results: From 2014 through 2019, >137 000 suspected meningitis cases were reported by 58 participating countries, with 44.6% (n=61 386) reported from countries in the WHO African Region. More than half (56.6%, n=77 873) were among children <1 year of age, and 4.0% (n=4010) died among those with reported disease outcome. Among suspected meningitis cases, 8.6% (n=11 798) were classified as probable bacterial meningitis. One of 3 bacterial pathogens was identified in 30.3% (n=3576) of these cases, namely S. pneumoniae (n=2177 [60.9%]), H. influenzae (n=633 [17.7%]), and N. meningitidis (n=766 [21.4%]). Among confirmed bacterial meningitis cases with outcome reported, 11.0% died; case fatality ratio varied by pathogen (S. pneumoniae, 12.2%; H. influenzae, 6.1%; N. meningitidis, 11.0%). Among the 277 children who died with confirmed bacterial meningitis, 189 (68.2%) had confirmed S. pneumoniae. The proportion of pneumococcal cases with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) serotypes decreased as the number of countries implementing PCV increased, from 77.8% (n=273) to 47.5% (n=248). Of 397 H. influenzae specimens serotyped, 49.1% (n=195) were type b. Predominant N. meningitidis serogroups varied by region. Conclusions: This multitier, global surveillance network has supported countries in detecting and serotyping the 3 principal invasive bacterial pathogens that cause pediatric meningitis. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common bacterial pathogen detected globally despite the growing number of countries that have nationally introduced PCV. The large proportions of deaths due to S. pneumoniae reflect the high proportion of meningitis cases caused by this pathogen. This global network demonstrated a strong correlation between PCV introduction status and reduction in the proportion of pneumococcal meningitis infections caused by vaccine serotypes. Maintaining case-based, active surveillance with laboratory confirmation for prioritized vaccine-preventable diseases remains a critical component of the global agenda in public health. The World Health Organization (WHO)-coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network reported data from 2014 to 2019, contributing to the estimates of the disease burden and serotypes of pediatric meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis.

KW - invasive bacterial disease

KW - meningitis

KW - meningococcal

KW - pneumococcal

KW - pneumococcal conjugate vaccine

KW - surveillance

KW - vaccine preventable disease

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115283090&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/infdis/jiab217

DO - 10.1093/infdis/jiab217

M3 - Article

C2 - 34469555

AN - SCOPUS:85115283090

SN - 0022-1899

VL - 224

SP - S161-S173

JO - Journal of Infectious Diseases

JF - Journal of Infectious Diseases

ER -

The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization-Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014-2019

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this