BACTERIAL-MENINGITIS IN CHILDREN ADMITTED IN HOSPITALS WITHIN NAIROBI

Four hundred and ninety nine children (aged between one month and five years) admitted with clinical features of meningitis were recruited i n cross-sectional survey of bacterial meningitis in hospitals within N airobi. Lumbar punctures were done on all of them and the cerebrospina l fluid (CSF) analysed bacteriologically and serologically for the com mon causative organisms. Two hundred and fifty (50.1%) cases were diag nosed clinically as having meningitis. Of these, 132 (52.8%) had turbi d CSF specimens, while 118 (47.2%) were clear. When turbid CSF specime ns were cultured, 83 (62.8%) yielded three common bacterial micro-orga nisms namely; Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Hae mophilus influenzae in that order of frequency. The implications of th ese findings in paediatric meningitis together with the drug sensitivi ty patterns is presented and discussed.