Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of acute bacterial meningitis in adults of Khmelnytskyi region

Abstract

We analyzed 123 cases of аcute bacterial meningitis, where 74 cases were in men and 49 cases - in women. 93.5% of cases began with fever, headache (86.2%), vomiting (69.9%), epileptic seizures (1.6%), altered level of consciousness (17.8%) and meningeal syndrome (80,2%). The etiological factor was established in 20.3% of patients. In 41.4% of patients neurological complications were observed. The terminal end was observed in 7.3% of patients. The main causative agent of аcute bacterial meningitis was S. pneumoniae (56.0%), the second place was taken by N. meningitidis (36.0%), the third one was divided between S. aureus and L. monocytogenes (4.0%). Brain edema (90.2%), paresis of extremities (11.7%) and epileptic seizures (7.8%) were frequent complications. The prevalence of аcute bacterial meningitis was 0.86 per 100 thousand population per year in the ratio between men and women of 1.5:1 and the total annual mortality of 0.06 per 100 thousand population.