Acute bacterial meningitis in children.

A retrospective study of 48 children with pyogenic meningitis who were admitted between January 1986 and December, 1987 at the Ogun State University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu has shown that childhood meningitis is an important health problem in the community as it accounted for 2.8% of 1,724 admissions into the paediatric ward. The ages of the patients ranged from three weeks to twelve years with a mean of 2 1/2 years. The commonest causative organism was Streptococcus pneumoniae which accounted for 67.5% of all isolates. The mortality rate was 26.1% while significant morbidity occurred in 23.5% of survivors. Important prognostic factors included the presence of coma or persistent convulsions, low CSF glucose and low serum sodium levels as well as the interval between symptoms and treatment.