title: Bacterial meningitis in children: a French prospective study.
abstract: From January 2001 through December 2003, a total of 1084 children with bacterial meningitis were enrolled in a prospective French nationwide survey. The most frequent pathogens found in children older than 28 days were Neisseria meningitis (55.3%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (33.4%). S. pneumoniae was the most frequent pathogen found among infants aged 2-12 months (49.5%), whereas N. meningitidis was the most frequent pathogen among children >12 months old (69.7%). Approximately one-half of S. pneumoniae isolates had diminished susceptibility to penicillin. The case-fatality rates were 7.6% for children with N. meningitidis meningitis and 10.8% for children with S. pneumoniae infection.
authors.affiliation: Service de Microbiologie EA3105, Hôpital Robert Debré, Paris, France. edouard.bingen@rdb.ap-hop-paris.fr
authors.forename: Edouard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bingen
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: France
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de la Rocque
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boucherat
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Varon
authors.forename: Jean Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dabernat
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reinert
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aujard
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology