INFECTIONS OF THE CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS - DATA FOR THE YEARS 1980-1992 IN BAVARIA AND LOWER SAXONY .1. BACTERIAL-INFECTIONS

The prevalence of central nervous infections amongst children and juve niles was surveyed in pediatric hospitals in the German Laender Bavari a and Lower Saxony during the period 1980-1999. The results show a sli ght yet steady rise in bacterial meningitis up to 1990, but later a su bstantial drop in numbers due to decreasing incidence of HiB induced m eningitis. In 1991 and 1992 incomplete HiB innoculations led to HiB me ningitis, in 11 children in Bavaria and 8 children in Lower Saxony. Th e majority of illnesses occurred during the Ist year, with a maximum f or Borrelian meningitis only between the 4th and 10th years of age. In Bavaria the percentage of nonidentified pathogens dropped from 36 % i n 1980 to 20-22 % at the start of the nineties, in Lower Saxony it dro pped during the same time from 41 % to 13-17 %. The highest mortality rate was 14,7 % in the case of tuberculous meningitis, of which 35 % h ad an only partial recovery. B-Streptococci disease amongst neonates h ad an impaired recovery in 38 %, followed by 33 % for Pneumococci meni ngitis. For other bacterial meningitides this percentate fluctuated be tween 12 and 25 %.