CONVULSIONS WITH FEVER OF ACUTE ONSET IN SCHOOL-AGE-CHILDREN IN BENIN-CITY, NIGERIA

Of 92 school-age children who had convulsions with fever (CWF) of acut e onset, seen in a 1-year period in an emergency room in Benin City, N igeria, 49 per cent had malaria parasitaemia, 15 per cent bacterial me ningitis, 8 per cent focal extracranial infections, and 1 per cent bac teraemia while 27 per cent had acute fever of undetermined origin. The prevalence of meningitis increased with presence of temperature great er-than-or-equal-to 40-degrees-C (P < 0.01), focal seizures (P < 0.05) , and rousable coma (P < 0.05). Bacterial meningitis is an important i llness in school-age children with CWF, although malaria parasitaemia is the commonest infection.