Open AccessEpidemiological study of acute bacterial meningitis in admitted children below twelve years of age in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Pune, India
Author(s) -
Dhrubajyoti J Debnath,
Arun Wanjpe,
Vandana Kakrani,
Samir A Singru
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
medical journal of dr. d y patil university/medical journal of dr. d.y. patil university
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2278-7119
pISSN - 0975-2870
DOI - 10.4103/0975-2870.97508
Subject(s) - case fatality rate , meningitis , medicine , streptococcus pneumoniae , epidemiology , incidence (geometry) , context (archaeology) , exact test , pediatrics , mortality rate , antibiotics , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , paleontology , physics , optics
Context: The community incidence of acute bacterial meningitis in India is not known. There is a need for a periodic review of bacterial meningitis worldwide, since the pathogens responsible for the infection vary with time, geography, and patient age. Aims: To study some epidemiological factors of acute meningitis. Setting and Design: Hospital based cross sectional study. Materials and Methods: Detailed clinical examination of all clinically suspected cases of meningitis was done. Blood and cerebro spinal fluid culture was done. Statistical Analysis Used: Fisher exact test, P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: There were 79 suspected cases of meningitis, majority of cases (74.7%) were under-fives. The case fatality rate (CFR) was 13.9% with a confidence interval ranging from 5.9 to 21.5%. The association between the age and the mortality was not statistically significant. (Fisher′s exact test, P = 1). The association between the gender and the mortality was not statistically significant (Fisher′s exact test, P = 0.3). Based on the culture examination there were 16 cases of confirmed bacterial meningitis. Commonest isolate was Klebsiella pneumoniae as seen in five cases (31.2%). Neisseria meningitides, H influenzae, or Streptococcus pneumoniae were not isolated in any case. Conclusion: Acute bacterial meningitis is still an important public health problem with a high case fatality rate