Bacterial meningitis in childhood.

Journal article

A wide variety of pathogens cause childhood meningitis and clinical features and-outcomes vary according to the organism. Bacterial meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is of particular importance as it has a high mortality and morbidity, has been relatively common and is treatable with antibiotics. In the last two decades widespread introduction of highly effective conjugate vaccines against these pathogens in many industrialised countries has led to a significant reduction in the incidence of bacterial meningitis, although there is still a substantial global burden of disease, predominantly occurring in resource-poor countries, where case-fatality rates are higher and long-term sequelae are more common. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Authors: Sadarangani, M; Pollard, A

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Advances in experimental medicine and biology
• Volume: 719
• Pages: 185-199
• Publication date: 2011-01-01
• DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-0204-6_16
• ISSN: 0065-2598
• Language: English
• Keywords: Child; Meningitis, Bacterial; Bacteria; Humans