Etiology and occurrence of acute bacterial meningitis in children in Benghazi Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

ABSTRACT

Over a 14-month period, 77 children with a presumptive diagnosis of acute bacterial meningitis were investigated. The incidence of acute bacterial meningitis was 0.8%, with a case fatality rate of 13.0%. Children pound 1 year of age were more affected [64.9%]. The total male to female ratio was 1.21. Gram stain detected more cases [85.7%] than culture [66.2%]. A total of 48 isolates were identified by culture and their antibiotic sensitivity was determined. Haemophilus influenzae [33.8%] was the predominant organism identified, followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae [26.0%], Klebsiella spp. [6.5%] and Neisseria meningitidis [2.6%]. Many of the bacterial isolates were sensitive to gentamicin, cefotaxime and ceftriaxone and least sensitive to tetracycline and ampicillin