RÉSUMÉ
PURPOSE: Since 1990, several epidemics of aseptic meningitis have been reported in Korea. We report 327 children with aseptic meningitis in Daejeon for 4 years from 2000 to 2003. And the clinical features and laboratory data were compared between the positive enterovirus PCR group and the negative enterovirus PCR group. METHODS: We reviewed the clinical records of 327 aseptic meningitis children who were admitted to the Department of Pediatrics of Eulji University Hospital from 2000 to 2003. We described their age, sex, annual and monthly incidence rates, clinical manifestations and laboratory data. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) method was used to identify enterovirus RNA in the cerebrospinal fluid. RESULTS: The male to female ratio was 2 : 1 and most of them were 5 to 9 years old. Meningitis occurred mostly from May to July. In the positive PCR group, a peak incidence was noticed in July with most of the cases from May to September. The patients showed symptoms of fever, vomiting, and headache with a wide range of WBC counts from 3,520 to 32,330(mean 9,470)/mm3 and relatively normal ranges of ESR and CRP. In the cerebrospinal fluids, leukocytes were in a range of 5-5,400(mean 270)/mm3, proteins 11-180 (mean 37.7) mg/dL and glucose 22-95(mean 55.86) mg/dL. The examination of the cerebrospinal fluids with RT-PCR for enterovirus showed positive in 103 out of 204 patients. There were not any statistically significant differences in the clinical features between the positive result group and the negative result group. However, the proportion of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the peripheral blood and the leukocyte counts in the cerebrospinal fluids were higher in the positive result group. CONCLUSION: Aseptic meningitis was prevalent in Daejeon between 2001 and 2002. The clinical manifestations and the laboratory findings of the patients were compatible with those of previous reports. There were no statistically significant differences in the clinical features and the laboratory data between the positive enterovirus PCR group and the negative enterovirus PCR group except the proportion of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the peripheral blood and the leukocyte counts in the cerebrospinal fluids.