title: Childhood bacterial meningitis in Riyadh.
abstract: One hundred and six patients with culture-positive bacterial meningitis were admitted to Sulemania Children's Hospital, Riyadh, from February 1985 to July 1990. The most common organisms causing meningitis in children older than 1 month were Hemophilus influenzae type b (N = 61), Streptococcus pneumoniae (N = 19), and Neisseria meningitidis (N = 14). Among neonates, the most common organism causing meningitis was Group B beta-hemolytic Streptococcus (N = 4). Of the cases of Hemophilus influenzae, 4.9% were resistant to both ampicillin and chloramphenicol. Forty-two patients were pretreated with antibiotics. The mortality rate was 2.8%. We describe the clinical and laboratory findings in these patients. We also discuss the implications of our findings in relation to the choice of antibiotics.
authors.affiliation: Sulemania Children's Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abanamy
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shuja
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khaleel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghazal
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cherian
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salman
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abdul Alim