Acute bacterial meningitis in Malawi

RESUMO

Acute bacterial meningitis [ABM] is a life threatening disease which often occurs after colonization of the nasopharyngeal mucosa by pathogenic bacteria. Although other organisms do not occur infrequently; Neisseria meningitidis; Haemophilus influenzae; and Streptococcus pneumoniae are responsible for more than 90 percent of the cases outside the neonatal period. The epidemiology of each of these bacteria differs in geographical distribution; incidence; mortality rates; age of the population affected and susceptibility to antibiotics and these factors are discussed in the article