Convulsions with fever of acute onset in school-age children in Benin City, Nigeria.

Of 92 school-age children who had convulsions with fever (CWF) of acute onset, seen in a 1-year period in an emergency room in Benin City, Nigeria, 49 per cent had malaria parasitaemia, 15 per cent bacterial meningitis, 8 per cent focal extracranial infections, and 1 per cent bacteraemia while 27 per cent had acute fever of undetermined origin. The prevalence of meningitis increased with presence of temperature > or = 40 degrees C (P < 0.01), focal seizures (P < 0.05), and rousable coma (P < 0.05). Bacterial meningitis is an important illness in school-age children with CWF, although malaria parasitaemia is the commonest infection.