Pyogenic Meningitis in Samtah, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Summary:  In a retrospective study of 2050 admissions, over a period 25 months, 2.5 percent of the admissions were found to be cases of pyogenic meningitis. The total number of deaths during the same period was 90 and pyogenic meningitis accounted for 9.0 percent of this total mortality. The case mortality was 15.7 percent and 62.5 percent of these deaths occurred in infants. The predominant organism isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid was H influenzae, except in children under the age of two months in whom other organisms were implicated. H influenzae, S pneumoniae and N meningitidis constituted 76.5 percent of all the positive cultures. Clinical features of the CNS infection, such as neck stiffness, Kemig's sign and seizures were less often noted. Eleven patients had various complica tions which occurred more frequently in infants as well as in those who presented at hospital, five days or more, after the onset of illness.