Pooled analysis of 2,408 cases of acute adult purulent meningitis from Turkey.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to systematically review the Turkish literature of acute adult purulent meningitis.


METHODS
The published series of three national databases and two international databases were searched to perform the review. In addition to the databases, abstracts of congresses held between 1994 and 2003 by the Turkish Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Association, Turkish Microbiology Association, and the Antibiotic and Chemotherapy Association were searched for reports about acute purulent meningitis.


RESULTS
Data for 2,408 patients with a diagnosis of acute purulent meningitis were obtained from 30 reports. In terms of clinical findings, 1,254 of 1,570 (79.8%) had fever (>38 degrees C), 1,408 of 1,595 (88.2%) headache, 1,403 of 1,562 (89.8%) stiffness of the neck, and 649 of 784 (82.7%) leukocytosis (>10,000/mm(3)). Cerebrospinal fluid culture yielded a pathogen in 873 of 2,260 (38.6%) patients. The most common pathogen was Streptococcus pneumoniae, followed by Neisseria meningitidis and Staphylococcus aureus. Overall mortality was 425 of 2,408 (17.6%). Pathogen-specific mortality was 60 of 202 (29.7%) for S. pneumoniae and 6 of 100 (6%) for N. meningitidis.


CONCLUSIONS
Meningitis is a serious, life-threatening disease. More preventive measures should be sought to further decrease the mortality and morbidity related to acute purulent meningitis.
Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey.
Bilgin
B
Arda
Oguz Resat
OR
Sipahi
Sabri
S
Atalay
Sercan
S
Ulusoy
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006193:Haemophilus influenzae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology