Meningitis purulenta

TL;DRAbstract

Purulent meningitis was confirmed by microscopical, chemical and microbiological means in 190 children admitted in the last seven years to the pediatric wards of a metropolitan hospital at Santiago, Chile. Sex distribution was 1:1 ; 64%of the patients were under 2 and 83%under 5 years of age. Most cases (81%) occurred in late fall, winter and early spring. Different degress of undernutrition were detected in 24%of them, mostly grade I (14.7%). in 63 patients (33.1%) antibiotics were given before admission. More than 4 days elapsed from begining of symptoms to referal to hospital in 86 children (45.2%). Clinical signs of meningeal irritation were present in only 59% of cases under one year of age as compared to 81.6%in children aged 5 years or older. Lethality as a whole was 8.4%, ranging from 60%in ncwborns to 3.1%after the age of 5 years. Bacteriae were isolated from 57.9%of the ecrebrospinal fluid samples; Neisseriae meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzas w

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