PROPOSING A MURINE MENINGOCOCCAL MENINGITIS ANIMAL MODEL BASED ON AN EXTENSIVE REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Abstract

Background: Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) is an aerobic Gram-negative bacterium that accounts for a large number of bacterial meningitis cases worldwide. It is a strict human pathogen that is easily spread between hosts via aerosols. Although up to 15% of young adults and children carry meningococci in the nose and throat, few transient carriage cases develop into an actual case of meningitis. However, those that do frequently lead to the patient's death within one or two days after the onset of disease. To better study this illness and test possible treatments, meningitis animal models were developed throughout the years, from as early as 1976. Methods: We tried to find a stable and cost-effective animal meningitis model by querying the Pubmed database using two sets of keywords, going through all the results and choosing one protocol that best fit our needs. Results: After analysing 665 results, we comprised a list of 20 meningococcal meningitis murine models that had varying similarities between them, in the end deciding on the most efficient one. Conclusions: We chose and further described the model presented in the article „Inducing Meningococcal Meningitis Serogroup C in Mice via Intracisternal Delivery” by Chiara Pagliuca et al. in 2019.