paper · doi:10.20372/nadre:17301
Introduction: Viral meningitis is common in most resource-limited settings, posing<br> a challenge for the management and prognosis of suspected patients. No study has been<br> done on the detection of either viral or viral–bacterial co-infection among presumed pyogenic meningitis cases in Ethiopia. We, therefore, aimed to determine the distribution of<br> cytomegalovirus (CMV) and human enteroviruses (HEVs) among patients with presumptive<br> pyogenic meningitis at University hospitals in Ethiopia.<br> Methods: Viral nucleic acid was extracted from 86 repository CSF samples, which were<br> collected from patients presumptively diagnosed with pyogenic meningitis between 2012 and<br> 2013. PCR was done consecutively to investigate the possible viral etiologic agents of<br> meningitis.<br> Results: HEVs were detected in 11 (12.8%) of the analyzed samples while none of the 86<br> samples were tested positive for CMV. Viral-bacterial co-infections were found among 4/11<br> (36.4%) confirmed cases. The majority of the patients (10/11) with HEVs were younger aged<br> ≤ 19 years old.<br> Conclusions: In this study, the magnitude of HEVs was shown to have a significant role in<br> presumed pyogenic meningitis cases. Therefore, we recommend presumed pyogenic meningitis cases to be inspected for viral etiologies and improve meningeal symptoms<br> interpretations.<br>