Bacterial profile and resistance trends of pathogens implicated in bacterial meningitis: A four years retrospective study

Background: Study aims to determine the bacterial profile associated with bacterial meningitis, their antimicrobial resistance pattern providing antimicrobial stewardship guidance and improving the efficacy of empirical treatment. Methods: Four years case-series retrospective study (December 2019- December 2023), of positive CSF cultures in 432 patients of various age groups and departments in Ain Shams University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt were analyzed. Results: Predominance of Gram-negative bacteria constituting 79.1%, while 19.6% were attributed to gram-positive in bacterial meningitis. Notably, Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) had the highest prevalence at 34%, followed by Acinetobacter species (spp) at 19.6%. Whereas, Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumonia) exhibited a lower prevalence of 1.8%. The age group >16-50 years demonstrated the highest prevalence at 26.6%, followed by infants aged 2 months to