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BackgroundBacterial meningitis is a dangerous infection that can kill children and adults alike. An estimated 1.2 million instances of bacterial meningitis are anticipated to occur globally each year, despite the discovery of polysaccharide and conjugate vaccines in recent years [1]. The study aimed to find out which bacteria isolates are linked to meningitis and to compare the culture method to the rT-PCR method.MethodThis study examined data on bacterial meningitis from the Ghana Health Service’s Public Health Division from 2015 to 2019. Patients’ information was collected from case-based forms held at the Tamale Public Health and Reference Laboratory. The data from the case-based forms was transcribed into a pre-designed Microsoft Excel template. For analysis, the data was cleaned and loaded into Minitab version 18.ResultsThere were 2,446 CSM cases documented in all, 34.4 percent were confirmed. Males (52.7%) were more suspected than females (47.3%). Age group 15-44 were affected most (37.5%). The predominant pathogens were Neisseria meningitidis (W135) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (St.1) with NMX, St.14, St.19, and St. 12F/12A/12b as new emerging strains.Notwithstanding that, low NPV (72.6%), NLR (0.69), and sensitivity (31.8%) of culture method for detected pathogens of bacterial meningitis were found to produce a statistically significant false negatives compared to the gold standard (rT-PCR).ConclusionEmergence of new strains of bacterial meningitis and the false negative results chained out by the culture method is alarming.

BackgroundCerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) is a public health burden in Ghana that causes up to 10% mortality of the disease annually. About 20% of those who survive cerebrospinal meningitis suffer permanent sequelae. The study sought to understand the predictive signs and symptoms of bacterial meningitis implicated in its outcomes.MethodRetrospective data from the Public Health Division, Ghana Health Service on bacterial meningitis from 2015 to 2019 used for this study. A pre-tested data extraction form was used to collect patients’ information from case-based forms kept at the Disease Control Unit from 2015 to 2019. Data were transcribed from the case-based forms into a pre-designed Microsoft Excel template. The data was cleaned and imported into SPSS version 26 for analysis.ResultsBetween 2015-2019, a total of 2,446 CSM cases were reported. Out of these, 842 were confirmed. Among the confirmed cases, males constituted 55.3%. Children below 14 years of age were most affected (51.4%). The pathogens commonly responsible for bacterial meningitis wereNeisseria meningitidisandStreptococcus pneumoniaewith their respective strains especiallyNm W135, Nm X, Spn St. 1, andSpn St. 12F/12A/12B/44/4being responsible for most of the confirmed cases. The most predictive sign and symptom for bacterial meningitis was fever (X2=5.738a;p .05; AOR=1.303). Identified signs that were associated but less likely to cause disease were abdominal pain (X2=12.038a;p .05; AOR=0.597), neck stiffness (X2=6.447a;p .05; AOR=0.788), altered consciousness (X2=15.438a;p .05; AOR=0.673), and convulsion (X2=15.084a;p .05; AOR=0.678).ConclusionThe confirmed cases of bacterial meningitis from 2015 to 2019 had fever as the main predictive symptom. It is therefore noticed that abdominal pain, neck stiffness, altered consciousness and convulsion did not associate with CSM within the study period.