The Meningitis and Encephalitis Registry of Lower Saxony, Germany (MERIN) - design and main results of circulating neurotropic pathogen surveillance, 2003 to 2023.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUNDThe Meningitis and Encephalitis Registry in Lower Saxony (MERIN), introduced in 2003, monitors circulating neurotropic pathogens in Lower Saxony and Bremen and offers free laboratory diagnostics for patients hospitalised with aseptic meningitis, encephalitis and polio-like symptoms.AIMWe aimed to present set-up and operation of MERIN in detail and provide results of the collected data.METHODSData (work-flow, demographics, sample materials, detected pathogens including non-polio enterovirus (NPEV) genotypes), collected between 2003 and 2023 were extracted from the MERIN database and presented descriptively. Seasonal patterns of detected pathogens were analysed using a Poisson regression model.RESULTSDuring 21 years of MERIN's operation, 34,688 samples from 13,813 patients were ana

SUBMITTER: Wollenweber ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12905527 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature