All issues > Volume 27(6); 1984

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1984;27(6):554-562. Published online June 30, 1984.

A Clinical Observation on Meningitis in Infancy and Childhiid.

Jin Kyu Park, Eui Hyung Kim, Tae Ju Hwang

¹Department of Pediatrics, Chonnam University Medical School Kwangju, Korea

Abstract

The authors observed 333 cases of meningitis (aseptic 96, purulent 113, tuberculous 124) in infancy and childhood, who admitted to the Department of Pediatrics of Chonnam University Hospital during the period of 5 years from 1976 to 19,80. The results were summarized as follows: 1)Annual incidence had not tendency to increasing for 5 years. 2)Peak age incidence of meningitis was under 1 year for purulent(46.0%), 1 to 5 years for tuberculous(38.7%) and 5 to 10 years for aseptic(38.5%), and all the meningitis wer& relatively uncommon after 10 years of age(12.1%). 3)Male to female ratio was 3 : 1 for aseptic, 1.7: 1 for purulent and 1.5: 1 for tuberculous, but in tuberculous meningitis after 5 years of age was about 1 : 1. 4)Chief complaints of meningitis were fever(77.5%), vomiting(68.6%), convulsion(46.2%), headache(32.1%), and so on. On physical examination meningeal irritation signs were common (neck stiffness 68.5%, Kernig’s sign 50.8%, Brudziniski sign 34.2%), and relatively higher percentage of change of consciousness in tuberculous (33.8%) and bulging fontanelle in purulentmeningitis(25.7%) than in others were noted. 5)Positive culture rate in pupulent meningitis (24.8%) was lower than previous reports. 6)In aseptic meningitis, clinical course was benign and prognosis was good, while inpurulent and tuberculous meningitis, mortality (respectively 4.4%, 6.5%) was more decreased but complications and sequeles(respectively 17.7%, 18; 5%) were more increased than previous reports.

Keywords :Aseptic; Purulent; Tuberculous Meningitis