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Tuberculous meningitis is a devastating brain infection that is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is notoriously difficult to diagnose and treat. New technologies characterising the transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome have identified new molecules and pathways associated with tuberculous meningitis severity and poor outcomes that could offer novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets. The next-generation GeneXpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay, when used on CSF, offers diagnostic sensitivity for tuberculous meningitis of approximately 70%, although it is not widely available and a negative result cannot rule out tuberculous meningitis. Small trials indicate that clinical outcomes might be improved with increased doses of rifampicin, the addition of linezolid or fluoroquinolones to standard antituberculosis therapy, or treatment with adjunctive aspirin combined with corticosteroids. Large phase 3 clinical trials are underway worldwide to address these and other questions concerning the optimal management of tuberculous meningitis; these studies also form a platform for studying pathogenesis and identifying novel diagnostic and treatment strategies, by allowing the implementation of new genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic technologies in nested substudies.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/s1474-4422(21)00435-x

Type

Journal

The Lancet. Neurology

Publication Date

05/2022

Volume

21

Pages

450 - 464

Addresses

Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University, Oxford, UK; Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Centre for Tropical Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Keywords

Humans, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Tuberculosis, Meningeal, Rifampin, Antitubercular Agents, Sensitivity and Specificity, Proteomics