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[Bacterial concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid in childhood meningitis]
P Mariani-Kurkdjian1, C Doit, I Le Thomas
1Service de Microbiologie, Hôpital Robert Debré, Paris.
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to analyze the epidemiological evolution of causal germs in meningitis in children aged 1 day to 15 years and determine the relationship between pretreatment concentrations of bacteria in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), patient age, bacterial species and bacteriological eradication.
Patients And Methods:
A quantitative analysis of germs was performed in 212 children with bacterial meningitis (mean age 19.8 months).
Results:
Bacterial counts ranged from 2.10(1) to 4.10(9) CFU/ml in CSF. Among the 212 patients, 52 (24.5%) had counts 10(7)/ml. Infants had significantly higher counts than the other age groups. Mean counts for Hoemophilus influenzoe serotype B were not different from those for Streptococcus pneumoniae but were significantly higher than for Neisseria meningitidis. Compared with initial germ counts, 98.5% of the CSF specimens were sterile at 24 and 48 hours and 100% at 72 hours.
Conclusion:
Germ counts were higher in infants.