Early antibiotic administration prevents cognitive impairment induced by meningitis in rats.

Neurological deficit and alterations in the hippocampus still frequently occur following bacterial meningitis in children, despite the antibiotic treatment. We investigated the long-term outcomes using early versus late antibiotic therapy in experimental pneumococcal meningitis. To this aim, male Wistar rats underwent a basilar cistern tap receiving either sterile saline as a placebo or an equivalent volume of a Streptococcus pneumoniae suspension. Antibiotics were started 8 or 16 h after infection and the animals were followed for 10 days to the determination of long-term cognitive outcomes. The animals were submitted to the habituation of an open-field as an index of long-term cognitive function. Early antibiotic administration (8 h after inoculation) when compared to late antibiotic administration (16 h after inoculation) prevented cognitive impairment induced by pneumococcal meningitis in Wistar rats. The findings from this study suggest that early antibiotic administration is an effective strategy to prevent long-term cognitive impairment in a meningitis animal model.