Three years of acute bacterial meningitis in the pediatric service at the Temuco Regional Hospital
Boehme, C.; Soto, L.; Rodríguez, G.; Serra, J.; Illesca, V.; Reydet, P.
Revista Medica de Chile 121(6): 633-638
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0034-9887 PMID: 8278698 Document Number: 410661
The aim of this work was to study the clinical, epidemiological and laboratory features of 90 children, hospitalized between 1988 and 1991 with the diagnosis of acute bacterial meningitis in a region with a high proportion of aboriginal population. Twenty six percent of studied patients were of mapuche origin. The causative organism was identified in 82% of cases (H influenzae in 38% of cases, S pneumoniae in 29% and N meningitidis in 10%). H influenzae was resistant to ampicillin in 16% of cases and resistant to chloramphenicol in 4%. This agent was identified in 52% of patients of mapuche origin compared with 33% of non mapuche patients. Seventy three percent of children were less than 2 years old. Thirty seven percent of children had complications during hospitalization, 12 children died (13.3%) and 38% of children had neurological sequelae at the moment of discharge.