Improving meningitis diagnosis at all levels of health care
Early detection and rapid diagnosis is essential, for individual patient management, as well as for management of epidemics. At the beginning of a meningitis outbreak, confirmation of the responsible pathogen is essential to enable the launch of an appropriate
response.
The development and promotion of heat-stable in vitro diagnostic tests which detect a range of common bacterial meningitis-causing pathogens (Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis) has been prioritized by a group of WHO-convened experts (see the meeting report). Gathered in March 2018, they identified key steps to make progress for three priority types of diagnostic tests:
- Rapid test in the African meningitis belt to identify the causative organism (meningococcal serogroup) at peripheral level,
- rapid test in epidemic and endemic settings (global level) to identify bacterial infection for individual case management at peripheral level,
- rapid test in epidemic and endemic settings (global level) to identify multiple meningitis pathogens for individual case management at hospital level.
These critical in vitro diagnostic tests needed for meningitis detection and control are described in the 2018 use cases document.
Meningitis diagnostics use case
9 October 2018
Target product profiles (TPP) have been developed for two types of tests:
- a rapid IVD test to be used in epidemic settings of the African meningitis belt to rapidly detect meningococcal outbreaks and determine the appropriate response:
TPP for meningitis RDT for outbreak detection in the African Meningitis Belt
- an IVD for epidemics and endemic settings, world-wide to identify multiple meningitis pathogens and inform patient treatment. In vitro diagnostic test for the identification of multiple meningitis pathogens-Target Product Profile