SPECTRUM OF HAEMOPHILUS-INFLUENZAE TYPE-B DISEASE IN CHILDREN AT A UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IN RIYADH, SAUDI-ARABIA

Duping a period of 5 years, 42 cases of invasive Haemophilus influenza e type b (Hib) disease were studied. An outstanding finding in our pat ients was occult bacteraemia, which was detected in 13 (31 per cent) p atients. Other clinical conditions encountered were nine (21 per cent) patients with pneumonia, nine (21 per cent) with meningitis, six (64 per cent) with cellulitis, three (7 per sent) with arthritis, one (2 p er cent) with epiglottitis, and one (2 per cent) with urinary tract in fection, The mean age of children was 21 months (range 1-156 months); the majority (62 per cent) belonged to the age group 7-18 months, Ther e were 24 females and 18 males, Eighty-one per cent of these patients were Saudi nationals, Five isolates (12 per cent) of Hib were resistan t to ampicillin and similar numbers were resistant to chlorampenicol, Twenty-five children (60 per cent) wepe treated with ampicillin, nine (21 per cent) with chlorampenicol and eight (19 per cent) with ceftria xone. kll patients made complete recovery.