BACTERIAL MENINGITIS IN LATEONSET NEONATAL SEPSIS

Background: Neonatal sepsis is a clinical syndrome characterized by signs and symptoms of infection with or without accompanying bacteraemia in the first month of life. Any newborn with bacterial sepsis is at risk of meningitis, but late onset sepsis(LOS) has been fairly associated with meningitis from 3% to 30%.Most common organisms causing neonatal meningitis in developing countries are Gram negative bacteria (GNB) like Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. Objective: To detect microbiological profile of CSF and blood culture and its Antibiotic sensitivity test (AST) in LOS. Methodology: All the Positive sepsis screen patients with clinical suspicion of LOS, CSF and Blood sample were taken for culture and AST and CSF analysis. Result: During the study period 150 neonates 49 (32.6%) were diagnosed with meningitis. 42 were positive for Gram staining of CSF. From 42, CSF culture was positive in 38(25.33%) Neonatal meningitis were more common in male (61.2%) in preterm (73.4%) and in low birth weight (<2500gms) babies (87.7%). 61(40.66%) shows blood culture positive. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the predominant pathogen causing septicemia & meningitis. In the GNB highest sensitive drug is Meropenem (70.9%). Conclusion: Meningitis is found in approximately one third of cases of LOS. Our study highlights the diagnostic utility of routine lumbar puncture in neonates with clinical features of sepsis.