Meningitis: Burden, Causes, Screening and Prevention in Rural Northern Uganda

Summary

This study will investigate the burden, causes, diagnostics, treatments and preventive measures related to meningitis in northern Uganda. We hypothesize that understanding the burden of meningitis, risk factors, diagnostics, treatments and the preventive measures will provide information regarding the gaps in care that can be addressed in order to improve the continuum of meningitis care. we hypothesize that our data will support the advocacy for the implementation of routine vaccination for the prevention of bacterial meningitis and improving guidelines for Cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) screening for prevention of cryptococcal meningitis, which will save lives in Uganda.

Aim 1: To prospectively collect data on 1100 patients with meningitis and meningitis symptoms who were admitted to Lira Regional Referral Hospital (LRRH) to assess burden, etiologies, pathogenesis, and outcomes of meningitis using modern diagnostic testing not previously available in Uganda.

Aim 2: To perform CrAg screening of 10,000 HIV-positive patients to determine the prevalence of cryptococcal antigenemia (infection) and conduct a case control study to compare risk factors and outcomes among CrAg-positive patients and matched CrAg-negative controls based on age, sex, TB status, ART experience, CD4 count, and viral load.

Conditions

• Meningitis

Interventions

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Pastorex Latex Agglutination Test

Rapid diagnosis of bacterial meningitis

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Biofire PCR for meningitis

Rapid diagnosis of multiple forms of meningitis

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Immy CrAg Lateral Flow Assay

Rapid diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Lira University

  collaborator OTHER

• Fogarty International Center of the National Institute of Health

  collaborator NIH

• Makerere University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Rochester

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

DIAGNOSTIC

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-09-01

Primary Completion

2031-09-01

Completion

2031-09-01

Countries

• Uganda

Study Locations