[Eosinophilic meningitis and meningoencephalitis in children]

Eosinophilic meningitis or meningoencephalitis is a disease commonly seen in Taiwan, especially in children during the summer rainy season. Most of the cases reported in other countries were adults and their clinical manifestations were different from children. Studies on special clinical characteristics among 87 children in Taiwan were performed. Thirty-eight (43.7%) were male and 49 (56.3%) females, and 88.5% could be traced to a history of contact with the intermediate host, the giant African snail, Achatina fulica, which plays a major role in transmission. The incubation period (average: 13.0 days) was shorter in children than in adults (average: 16.5 days). Near thirty percent (28.7%) of the total cases, the clinical form was meningoencephalitis, which was higher than in adult cases seen in Thailand (5%). The most common clinical symptom was fever (92.0%), followed by vomiting and headache. The percentages of sixth and seventh cranial neuropathy associated with the disease were 17.2% and 11.5% respectively. Ophthalmologic fundoscopy showed that 23.0% with papilledema which was significantly higher than seen in adults (12%) in Thailand. Most of the cases in this study had peripheral leukocytosis (above 10,000/mm3) and eosinophilia (above 10%); the percentages were 83.9% and 85.1%, respectively. The worm recovery rate from cerebrospinal fluid by lumbar puncture of 87 cases was 43.7%; 141 worms were collected from one female patient using a pumping method. In the recent 3 years, levamisole was used clinically with good result.