Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025433 (Oral 073) | Published: 18 Aug 2025
Sheila Mary Ojor Ileli1, Imonifome Frank Onyeke1,2, Adaugo Chizoma Owobu1,2, Jeremiah Samuel Alli1, Christiana Ngozi Ekuma1, Michael Izuwanneka Ogbogu1,2, Chukuwuemeka Ogbuinya Ugadu1,2, Grace Gyaga Kyunni1, Fayowole Irohinayo Omojoye1, Ehisuan Ehiaghe1, Matthew Apeleokha1, Juliet Oemhenze Idialu-Eigbobo1, Augusta Adesua Orji1, Collins Onolunosen Obinyan1, Adewale Elijah Adetunji1,2, Cyril Oshomah Erameh3,4, Peter Okokhere3, Ephraim Ogbaini-Emovon4, Kelly Iraoyah4, Osahogie Edeawe4, George Obozokhae Akpede1,2,&
1Department of Paediatrics, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria, 2Department of Paediatrics, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria, 3Department of Internal Medicine, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria, 4Institute for Viral and Emergent Pathogen Control and Research, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria
&Corresponding author: George Akpede, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua/Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria, Email : georgeakpede@yahoo.co.uk
Received: 31 May 2025, Accepted: 09 Ju 2025, Published: 18 Aug 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: CSF testing; Lassa virus meningitis; Lumbar puncture; Standard of care; Typical meningeal signs
©Sheila Mary Ojor Ileli et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Sheila Mary Ojor Ileli et al., Indications and potential diagnostic utility of lumbar puncture in the management of non-neonatal pediatric Lassa virus disease. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(Conf Proc5):00073. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00073
The need for lumbar puncture (LP) in the management of paediatric Lassa virus disease (PLVD) has been poorly researched. We missed an opportunity to assess the need in an earlier study of febrile children with convulsions because of lack of testing of CSF samples. The objectives of this study were to delineate the indications for LP; estimate its place in diagnosis; and correlate CSF test-yield with clinical presentation.
87/409 (21%) of non-neonatal infants/children with LVD admitted from 01/01/2017-30/06/2023 had a LP. We classified the 87 children based on the test-yield of serum and CSF for presence of Lassa virus (LASV) antigen and compared the clinical and laboratory presenting features between the groups using c2 and/or Fisher exact tests, with p <0.05 set as the level of significance.
Complete data sets were available for 76/87 (87%) children and 59/76 (78%) had LASV meningitis. 49/76 (65%) were serum/CSF antigen positive, 10/76 (13%) were serum negative/CSF positive and 17/76 (22%) serum positive/CSF negative. Overall, 35/41 (85%) children >2 years old with vs 21/33 (67%) without typical meningeal signs [OR (95% CI) = 3.33 (1.09, 10.21), p = 0.030] had LASV meningitis while 35/57 (61%) with meningitis vs 6/17 (35%) without meningitis [OR (95% CI) = 2.92 (0.94, 9.02), p = 0.057] had typical meningeal signs.
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