A prospective study was conducted on children aged 1 month to 14 years admitted to Makassed Hospital between 1987 and 1992 with a diagnosis of bacterial meningitis. The objective of the study was to examine the epidemiology of this disease. During the study period 80 children met the criteria for inclusion in the study. Results indicate that for children under the age of three, Hib was the most common pathogen (65%) followed by S. pneumonia. For children over the age of three, S. pneumonia was the most common pathogen at 42% followed by N. meningitides and Hib at 29% and 13%, respectively. The mean duration of illness before admission to the hospital was 3 days. Children admitted with S. pneumonia meningitis commonly had a history of significant head trauma. Fifty-four percent of the patients had received antibiotics before admission. Forty percent of Hib isolates were resistant to ampicillin while one case of Hib meningitis was resistant to chloramphenicol. The authors conclude that the pattern of bacterial meningitis in Palestinian population is similar to that in developed countries. Significant head trauma was shown to be major predisposing factor in S pneumonia meningitis. Due to the high rate of resistance of Hib strains to ampicillin, the authors recommend the initial empirical use of regimens including third generation cephalosporin.

Bull. Palest. Ch. Soc., 1:3, 235-247, 1995, 13 pp.