{"id":12594,"date":"2025-12-16T10:19:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T09:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/?p=12594"},"modified":"2025-12-16T10:25:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T09:25:40","slug":"news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic\/","title":{"rendered":"News from the Lab: Ultrasound and AI to diagnose childhood meningitis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Tx60uQI2dJI?si=zOpSP4LiVPMDA5A8\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meningitis is a serious infectious disease that inflames the membranes protecting the brain and spinal cord, called meninges. Detecting the disease in its early stages is essential to prevent its most severe forms, which can even lead to death. However, the current diagnostic method, a lumbar puncture, is invasive and particularly complicated with infants, who often present with very non-specific symptoms. Furthermore, lumbar punctures to diagnose meningitis are costly tests that require a high level of specialisation and resources. As a result, they are performed less frequently in low- and middle-income countries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is there a way to improve and facilitate the diagnosis of meningitis? <\/span><b>Sara Ajanovic<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a paediatrician and researcher at ISGlobal and Vall d&#8217;Hebron Hospital, presents a promising alternative in this edition of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">News from the Lab<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12612\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12612\" class=\"wp-image-12612\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CR-x-NFTL_Thumbnail4-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CR-x-NFTL_Thumbnail4-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CR-x-NFTL_Thumbnail4-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CR-x-NFTL_Thumbnail4-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CR-x-NFTL_Thumbnail4-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CR-x-NFTL_Thumbnail4-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-12612\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Participants in the development of Neosonics.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To address this challenge, together with the start-up <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/kriba.ai\/areas-of-care\/newborn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kriba,<\/span><\/a> the team has <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">developed <\/span><b><i>Neosonics<\/i><\/b><b>, a non-invasive tool<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that combines high-precision ultrasound with artificial intelligence to detect early signs of meningitis in newborns and infants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The device uses the fontanelle, the natural opening in babies&#8217; skulls that has yet to ossify, to analyse the cerebrospinal fluid in just two minutes using AI deep learning techniques, thereby identifying the presence of inflammatory cells without the need for a lumbar puncture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To validate this innovation, the team studied more than <\/span><b>200 infants under 24 months of age<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Spain, Morocco and Mozambique. Compared with the lumbar puncture, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neosonics<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> correctly classified <\/span><b>94% of the cases<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, differentiating between normal cerebrospinal fluid and fluid affected by meningitis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The results, published in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41390-025-04179-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pediatric Research<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, show that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neosonics<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> could become a major breakthrough for the rapid, easy, inexpensive, safe and effective diagnosis of childhood meningitis. This technology not only avoids an invasive procedure but can also make a decisive contribution to the global fight against this disease.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Tx60uQI2dJI?si=zOpSP4LiVPMDA5A8\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\ufeff\ufeff<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Meningitis is a serious infectious disease that inflames the membranes protecting the brain and spinal cord, called meninges. Detecting the disease in its early stages is essential to prevent its most severe forms, which can even lead to death. However, the current diagnostic method, a lumbar puncture, is invasive and particularly complicated with infants, who often present with very non-specific symptoms. Furthermore, lumbar punctures to diagnose meningitis are costly tests that require a high level of specialisation and resources. As a result, they are performed less frequently in low- and middle-income countries.<\/p>\n<p>Is there a way to improve and facilitate the diagnosis of meningitis? Sara Ajanovic, a paediatrician and researcher at ISGlobal and Vall d&#8217;Hebron Hospital,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[601,600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","category-science-outreach"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>News from the Lab: Ultrasound and AI to diagnose childhood meningitis - Blog CaixaCi\u00e8ncia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"News from the Lab: Ultrasound and AI to diagnose childhood meningitis - Blog CaixaCi\u00e8ncia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\ufeff\ufeff Meningitis is a serious infectious disease that inflames the membranes protecting the brain and spinal cord, called meninges. Detecting the disease in its early stages is essential to prevent its most severe forms, which can even lead to death. However, the current diagnostic method, a lumbar puncture, is invasive and particularly complicated with infants, who often present with very non-specific symptoms. Furthermore, lumbar punctures to diagnose meningitis are costly tests that require a high level of specialisation and resources. As a result, they are performed less frequently in low- and middle-income countries. Is there a way to improve and facilitate the diagnosis of meningitis? Sara Ajanovic, a paediatrician and researcher at ISGlobal and Vall d&#8217;Hebron Hospital,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog CaixaCi\u00e8ncia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T09:19:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T09:25:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CR-x-NFTL_Thumbnail4-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ubikmedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ubikmedia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic\/\",\"name\":\"News from the Lab: Ultrasound and AI to diagnose childhood meningitis - Blog CaixaCi\u00e8ncia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CR-x-NFTL_Thumbnail4-300x169.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-16T09:19:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-16T09:25:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/#\/schema\/person\/2b9d5310c27055b4862191402c387fca\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CR-x-NFTL_Thumbnail4-300x169.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CR-x-NFTL_Thumbnail4-300x169.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/\",\"name\":\"Blog CaixaCi\u00e8ncia\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/#\/schema\/person\/2b9d5310c27055b4862191402c387fca\",\"name\":\"Ubikmedia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccc66bc497f8ba496f9d06e5a58a91de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccc66bc497f8ba496f9d06e5a58a91de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ubikmedia\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/author\/ubikmedia\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"News from the Lab: Ultrasound and AI to diagnose childhood meningitis - Blog CaixaCi\u00e8ncia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.caixaresearch.org\/en\/news-from-the-lab-sara-ajanovic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"News from the Lab: Ultrasound and AI to diagnose childhood meningitis - Blog CaixaCi\u00e8ncia","og_description":"\ufeff\ufeff Meningitis is a serious infectious disease that inflames the membranes protecting the brain and spinal cord, called meninges. 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