Bacterial meningoencephalitis in children and adolescents in Paraguay: descriptive analysis of cases confirmed by national epidemiological surveillance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22164257Keywords:
bacterial meningitis, meningoencephalitis, epidemiological surveillance, Streptococcus pneumoniae, child, ParaguayAbstract
Introduction: Bacterial meningoencephalitis is a serious central nervous system infection with high lethality in the pediatric population. Updated national epidemiological data on this entity in childhood are scarce in Paraguay. The aim was to describe bacterial meningoencephalitis cases notified in persons younger than 20 years in Paraguay between January 2023 and December 2024, by agent, age, sex, geographic distribution and mortality. Materials and methods: Retrospective descriptive observational study of aggregated data from the national surveillance system. Suspected cases notified in persons aged 0 to 19 years, their final classification and those confirmed as bacterial were analyzed with frequencies. Results: 1,066 suspected cases were notified (642 in 2023 and 424 in 2024); 627 (58.8%) were classified as meningitis and 61 (31 in 2023 and 30 in 2024) as bacterial meningoencephalitis. The most frequent agent was Streptococcus pneumoniae (26; 42.6%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (9; 14.8%), Haemophilus influenzae (8; 13.1%) and Neisseria meningitidis (6; 9.8%). Cases concentrated in infants aged 0 to 5 months (18; 29.5%) and in the metropolitan area (about 43%). Seven deaths with an identified agent were recorded, three due to S. pneumoniae. Conclusions: Bacterial meningoencephalitis remains an infrequent but highly lethal entity in Paraguayan childhood, with pneumococcal predominance and sustained cases due to H. influenzae and meningococcus. The findings support timely completion of conjugate vaccination, evaluation of meningococcal vaccine and strengthening surveillance with serotyping.References
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Copyright (c) 2026 Cleiton Leandro da Silva, Esther Adele Walt Buschle, Yasmin Carla Leandro da Silva, Ramón Mario Bellón Préstamo (Autor/a)
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