Nisheeth Rajpal London

A new centre for meningitis research was opened at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last month. It promises to continue the pioneering line of work done at the university in recent years. A new initiative for research into the early and swift diagnosis of bacterial meningitis and the development of new drug treatments has been commissioned.

Early diagnosis of the disease in children is essential in order to prevent the onset of septicaemia. The diagnosis of bacterial meningitis in children can be made difficult by non-specific symptoms in the early stages that are identical to those of viral meningitis. A need for a quick and specific test has therefore arisen. Queen’s University’s professor of general practice, Philip Reilly, remarked: “Current tests for meningitis can take a number of hours to get a result and can only be conducted in a hospital setting. Our strategy is focused on preventing the potential catastrophe of septicaemia by early diagnosis. We will be setting up studies with our general practitioner colleagues to examine thoroughly the key early signs. Although some are already known, this information comes from hospital-based retrospective studies which describe situations hours after the onset of illness.”

Queen’s University has been at the forefront of meningitis research in recent years. In 1995, researchers at the university discovered that septicaemia is the result of high concentrations of a specific enzyme in the blood. The concentration of this enzyme is elevated in bacterial forms of meningitis but lower in viral forms of the disease. An enzyme assay test could aid GPs to establish the likely causative organism type and the likelihood of the onset of septicaemia. Dr Philip Turkington, the coordinator of the research centre, is optimistic about the development of such a test. “Our main aim is to develop a ‘dipstick’ version of our test that GPs can use in their surgeries and during home visits and that

nurses can use in GP practices and accident and emergency departments in hospitals.” It is hoped that such a test will be available to GPs within two years.

Other initiatives are also being planned at the new meningitis centre. “We will also be evaluating and developing new drug therapies for the prevention and treatment of septicaemia,” Dr Turkington explains. The work has already attracted considerable interest from a number of pharmaceutical companies, and, in addition, the university will devise an educational and teaching programme on meningitis not only for Queen’s University but also for the wider community in Northern Ireland.