title: Etiology of bacterial meningitis in children in Tuzla Canton.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bacterial meningitis is one of the most serious infectious diseases in childhood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To identify the most common causes of bacterial meningitis in children in Tuzla Canton.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a retrospective study which included 140 children, aged from 1 month to 14 years, treated at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases Tuzla, in the period 1999-2009, who had clinical and laboratory parameters of bacterial meningitis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Tuzla Canton in ten year period were registered 140 cases of bacterial meningitis in children aged 1 month to 14 years. Prevalence was 1.53/1000. The average age of patients was 3.6 +/- 3.8 years. Male to female ratio was 1.3:1. April, May and November were the months with the most reported cases of bacterial meningitis (p = 0.02). Most affected were children 1-12 months of age (p < 0.001). The most common pathogens of bacterial meningitis were Haemophilus influenzae (13.6%), Neisseria meningitides (8.6%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (5.7%) (p < 0.001). Mortality was 2.14%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bacterial meningitis is present in Tuzla Canton, and three major pathogens are Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitis and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The most affected were children 1-12 months of age, and most cases of bacterial meningitis occurred in spring.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Infectious Diseases, University Clinical Centre Tuzla, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. humera.jahic@ukctuzla.ba
authors.forename: Humera
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Porobic-Jahic
authors.forename: Dilista
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Piljic
authors.forename: Rahima
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jahic
authors.forename: Sead
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmetagic
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Numanovic
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000401:mortality