Host and pathogen genetics in bacterial meningitis

Bacterial meningitis is a severe disease with high mortality and morbidity. The majority of cases are caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Listeria monocytogenes. For each pathogen, different subgroups can vary in phenotypes, such as the potential to cause invasive disease in humans or potential to cause severe disease. It is not known why some patients develop bacterial meningitis after colonization, while the majority do not. Or, among those who develop invasive disease, why some recover fully and others have a fulminant disease course. Both host and pathogen factors are suggested to be involved. In this thesis, we use large datasets and novel bioinformatics tools to quantify the contribution of genetic variation in host and pathogen to bacterial meningitis disease susceptibility and severity, and discover new loci involved in outcome, disease complications or act as potential vaccine targets. These results enables us to further elucidate host and pathogen genetics in bacterial meningitis.