{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]],"date-time":"2026-09-17T18:45:15Z","timestamp":1789670715001,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777852800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777852800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"Klinikum der Universit\u00e4t M\u00fcnchen"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Infection"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Purpose<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The epidemiology of suspected pediatric meningoencephalitis has changed in the era of conjugate vaccines and multiplex PCR. Updated epidemiologic data are needed to adapt diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms to current practice.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      This retrospective single-center study included children\u2009&lt;\u200918 years who underwent lumbar puncture with cerebrospinal fluid multiplex PCR for suspected central nervous system infection at a tertiary pediatric hospital in Germany between 2016 and 2024. Clinical, laboratory, and outcome data were extracted from electronic medical records. Cerebrospinal fluid was analyzed using the BioFire\n                      <jats:sup>\u00ae<\/jats:sup>\n                      FilmArray\n                      <jats:sup>\u00ae<\/jats:sup>\n                      Meningitis\/Encephalitis Panel. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, nonparametric comparisons, and receiver operating characteristic analyses.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Among 1,198 children, definite bacterial meningitis was diagnosed in 13 (1.1%), definite viral meningitis in 80 (6.7%), aseptic meningitis of unknown etiology in 131 (11.0%), confirmed\/probable encephalitis in 53 (4.4%), and possible encephalitis in 34 (2.8%). Bacterial meningitis represented 5.8% of meningitis cases. A causative pathogen was identified in all bacterial cases, most commonly\n                      <jats:italic>Streptococcus pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20097). Enterovirus (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u200952) and parechovirus (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20099) predominated in viral meningitis, while an infectious etiology was identified in only 13\/53 confirmed\/probable encephalitis cases. The Bacterial Meningitis Score showed 80.0% sensitivity and 57.6% specificity. The recently published UK-ChiMES pre- and post-lumbar puncture scores demonstrated sensitivities of 84.6% and 76.9% and specificities of 86.3% and 92.7%, respectively.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Bacterial meningitis was rare, whereas viral and etiologically unresolved infections predominated despite routine multiplex PCR. Clinical prediction scores supported risk stratification, with the UK-ChiMES pre\u2013lumbar puncture score showing the most favorable sensitivity\u2013specificity balance.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1007\/s15010-026-02811-0","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T09:24:15Z","timestamp":1777886655000},"page":"1919-1929","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Pediatric meningoencephalitis in the molecular diagnostic era: epidemiological insights from 1198 suspected cases in Germany between 2016 and 2024"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"54","author":[{"given":"Yannik","family":"Vollmuth","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Benjamin","family":"Soric","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jana","family":"Beer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Uta","family":"Behrends","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marco","family":"Paolini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Astrid","family":"Blaschek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Melanie","family":"Meyer-B\u00fchn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christoph","family":"Klein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Johannes","family":"H\u00fcbner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gerhard","family":"Dobler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tilmann","family":"Schober","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]]},"reference":[{"issue":"8","key":"2811_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"685","DOI":"10.1016\/S1474-4422(23)00195-3","volume":"22","author":"Global","year":"2023","unstructured":"Wunrow H, Bender R, Vongpradith A et al. 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Johannes H\u00fcbner reports having received speaker and\/or consultancy fees from GSK, MSD, Sanofi, Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, Seqirus, AstraZeneca, bioM\u00e9rieux, and Seegene, all outside the submitted work. Tilmann Schober reports having received speaker and\/or consultancy fees from AstraZeneca, Sanofi, bioM\u00e9rieux, and Viatris, all outside the submitted work. Melanie Meyer-B\u00fchn reports having received and\/or consultancy fees from bioM\u00e9rieux and Seegene, all outside the submitted work. Uta Behrends reports no conflicts of interest. Marco Paolini reports no conflicts of interest. Astrid Blaschek reports no conflicts of interest. Christoph Klein reports no conflicts of interest. Gerhard Dobler reports no conflicts of interest. Jana Beer reports no conflicts of interest. Benjamin Soric reports no conflicts of interest.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Conflict of interest","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"During the preparation of this work the authors used ChatGPT exclusively for language editing and proofreading. After using this tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the published article.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","label":"Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the manuscript preparation process","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}}]}}