Profile of childhood meningitis in a hospital in South West Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: To study the pattern of meningitis in children admitted to King Faisal Military Hospital, Aseer region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the period 1987 to 2000. Particular emphasis was on Hemophilus influenzae meningitis.

METHODS: All the patients between the age of one month and 13 years of age, who were diagnosed with meningitis during that period, using the International Classification of Disease 9 coding system, were included in this study.

RESULTS: A total of 43 cases of meningitis based on the cerebrospinal fluid results were found. The majority (74%) of these cases were less than 2 years of age. Twenty-four patients had a positive cerebrospinal fluid culture. Fifteen of them (62.5%) were due to Hemophilus influenzae. The others were due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and group B Streptococcus. The remaining 19 patients had cerebrospinal fluid findings consistent with bacterial meningitis.

CONCLUSION: Meningitis due to Hemophilus influenzae, constitutes a large percentage of childhood meningitis in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This increase is highly attributed to the lack of vaccination against this organism. We recommend introducing this vaccine as a part of the routine vaccination schedule for all children.