Pediatric meningitis in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

During the 9 years 1985-1993 a prospective survey of all cases of meningitis in children < 13 years of age presenting to our hospital in the Western Cape Province of South Africa was carried out. Two-thousand-nine-hundred-and-twenty cases of meningitis were identified. The commonest form of bacterial meningitis was tuberculous meningitis (TBM) diagnosed in 282 children (mean age 2.94 years). N. meningitidis identified in 220 children (mean age 2.87 years), Haemophilus influenzae in 156 children (mean age 1.15 years) and S. pneumoniae in 106 children (mean age 2.14) were the next commonest causes of bacterial meningitis diagnosed. One-hundred-and-eighteen cases of bacterial meningitis were confirmed in infants < 1 month of age and the commonest bacteria identified were group B beta-haemolytic Streptococcus in 27, E. coli in 21, Klebsiella species in 11, and Candida species in 15 neonates. The emergence of TBM as the predominant cause of bacterial meningitis in childhood at our hospital is probably a reflection of the worsening tuberculosis situation in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.