One in Three Children Suffer Permanent Disabilities from Bacterial Meningitis: Study

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are developing treatments to protect neurons during the critical period before antibiotics take full effect.

One in three children who contract bacterial meningitis suffer from permanent neurological disabilities, according to a study by Karolinska Institutet.
The study analyzed data from the Swedish quality register on bacterial meningitis between 1987 and 2021, comparing over 3,500 people who contracted the disease as children with over 32,000 matched controls from the general population.
Those diagnosed with bacterial meningitis consistently have a higher prevalence of neurological disabilities such as cognitive impairment, seizures, visual or hearing impairment, motor impairment, behavioral disorders, or structural damage to the head.
The risk was highest for structural head injuries -- 26 times the risk, hearing impairment -- almost eight times the risk, and motor impairment -- almost five times the risk.
The research team is now developing treatments to protect neurons in the brain during the few days it takes for antibiotics to take full effect, with promising data from human neurons and preclinical phase with animal models underway.