Abstract
Bacterial meningitis remains a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in
childhood. Epidemiologic investigations have shown variability in disease risks
among different populations and races. In Korea, however, basic epidemiologic
information on bacterial meningitis in children is limited. The main purpose of
this study was to analyze bacteriologically proven meningitis cases in terms of
the relative frequency of causative organisms, mortality rate, and age
distribution beyond the neonatal period. Data was obtained from the hospital
records who had been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis at 13 general or
university hospitals from 1986 through 1995. The patients had at least one
positive CSF culture for bacteria. Of 140 cases of CSF culture-proven bacterial
meningitis, 46.4% was ≤1 year, 62.1% was ≤2 years, 81.4% was ≤5
years cumulatively. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common bacteria
responsible for 48 (35.0%) of all cases regardless of age, followed by
Haemophilus influenzae for 48 (34.3%) and Neisseria meningitidis for 8 (6.4%)
patients. The case fatality rate was 20.0%, 17.1%, and 16.7% for N.
meningitidis, S. pneumoniae, and H. influenzae, respectively. In conclusion, the
most common organisms of culture-proven bacterial meningitis in the last 10
years have been S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, and N. meningitidis in order of
frequency. Further study should be extended to nation-wide epidemiologic
evaluation to show the incidence of bacterial meningitis caused by these three
important organisms.