Dados do Trabalho

Título

Evaluative study of the most prevalent infectious agents associated with meningitis/encephalitis before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Experience in the city of Rio de Janeiro

Resumo

Infectious meningitis/encephalitis (EM) are pathological conditions associated with high rates of morbidity/mortality, where the examination of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is essential in the diagnosis. In 2020 and 2021, the world was faced with a pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus.
We selected CSF samples in 2 different periods: Before the pandemic and during the pandemic. CSF samples collected were sent to the Neurolife Laboratory immediately after lumbar puncture for diagnostic investigation. CSF was analyzed by conventional and molecular tests. The screening of the panels was performed according to the clinical indication, epidemiology and morbid history of the patients.
In 2019, 737 PCR tests/month were performed for the main pathogens related to meningitis/encephalitis. In 2020, this monthly average was lower (8%) due to the reflection of the pandemic. It is worth mentioning that from April onwards the increase in PCR requests for SARS-CoV-2 in CSF was also perceptible, including becoming among the top 5 of the PCRs most requested by the medical community. Although the number of PCR tests requests has returned to the equivalent in the period before the pandemic, the lockdown schemes and restrictions due to the pandemic showed a drop in the numbers of infectious agents reported in cases of meningitis/encephalitis. A reduction from 354 positive cases (in 2019) to 124 (in 2020) and 141 (in 2021) can be observed. This is evident when looking at positive Enterovirus cases in 2019 compared to the pandemic years. The numbers have dropped by almost 80%. In 2019, there were 151 patients, while in 2020 there were 19 and in 2021 there were 24 patients. The top 5 pathogens found in 2019 were Enterovirus (151), Herpes simplex 2 (34), Streptococcus Pneumoniae (34), Varicella Zoster (23) and Neisseriae Meningitidis (17). In 2020 and 2021, the top 5 were, respectively, Enterovirus (19) and (24), Varicella Zoster (18) and (26), Streptococcus Pneumoniae (16) and (6), Herpes simplex 2 (8) and ( 12) and Neisseriae Meningitidis (2) and (5).In conclusion, it is evident that the decrease in the movement of people was reflected in the drop in cases of meningitis/encephalitis throughout the pandemic.

Palavras Chave

COVID-19; MENINGITIS; ENCEPHALITIS