Epidemiology of meningitis in Oman, 2000-2005

We reviewed the epidemiologic features and trends for 771 cases of meningitis in Oman from January 2000 to December 2005. We found 69% were bacterial in origin and 13% were viral. Leading bacterial pathogens included Haemophilus influenzae [15%], Streptococcus pneumoniae [14%] and Nesseria meningitidis [12%]. For 56% of patients with suspected pyogenic meningitis, no specific bacterial pathogen could be identified. Peak occurrence was in children under 2 years old. The incidence of H. influenzae type b decreased by almost 100% after implementation of the national immunization programme in 2001, while the incidence of cases caused by S. pneumoniae and N. meningitidis remained steady

Epidemiological and cost analysis of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Oman

We conducted an epidemiological and cost analysis for all 13 patients diagnosed with multaidrug-resistant tuberculosis [11 pulmonary, 2 extrapulmonary] in Oman from January 2000 to October 2005. The disease was secondary, or acquired, in 12 of 13 patients. A total of 140 contacts were screened [mean 10.8 persons per patient], but contact tracing revealed no secondary cases. The mean number of drugs that TB isolates were resistant to was 2.8 [range 2-5]. A mean of 4.7 drugs were given to patients, the mean length of therapy was 8 months and all patients were cured. The cost of medications for these multidrug-resistant cases was 14 to 29 times higher than that for the standard drug-sensitive TB regimen