Clinical and microbiological characteristics of Gram-negative meningitis in children

Objective: to describe the microbiological and clinical characteristics of children with Gram-negative meningitis in Medellin, Colombia between 2011 and 2020. Methods: observational multicenter study. Patients under 18 years of age with positive cerebrospinal fluid culture for Gram-negative bacilli were included. Results: we found 68 patients (35 younger than 3 months). At least one comorbidity was identified in 83%, the most common was prematurity (30.1%). The most common bacteria were E. coli (44%), Pseudomonas spp (19%) and Klebsiella spp (17%). Seventy-five percent of the isolates were multi-sensitive to antibiotics. Combined antibiotic therapy was indicated in 6.5%. Fifty-three patients were cured; 62% presented complications and nine patients died. In our setting, Gram-negative meningitis behaved similarly to other reported series. Conclusions: Gram-negative meningitis occurred mainly in children with predisposing factors with high percentage of complications and death. These data contribute to the understanding of the disease and to propose therapeutic strategies to improve outcomes.