Bacterial meningitis is still a major
public health threat inside
developing countries . In
Brazil , the Department of
Public Health estimates that the
prevalence of
bacterial meningitis is 22 cases per 100,000
persons . During the neonatal period, the
bacterial meningitis develops special characteristics that can result in
hearing problems and
movement loss due to neurological and psychological damages. This study had the aim to analyze the
prevalence of
bacterial meningitis and
sepsis in
newborns during the
pregnancy period for those using the
public health care system in Salvador-Bahia. One of the
goal was to describe the
risk factors of
bacterial meningitis and
sepsis in
newborns . A second
goal was to identify, based on
newborn health records , the difficulties to predict issues with the
hearing , neurological and psychological problems. This study has a cross-sectional design. The
newborns that were included in this study had
bacterial meningitis or
sepsis within 0-28 days of
life . They were admitted in the maternity wards between June-December 2005 at the
newborn intensive unit care. We analyzed 72
reports of
newborns and only 11 (17 percent) were
bacterial meningitis or
sepsis newborn cases. These cases were associated to high intake of ototoxic
drugs that can cause oto and nephrotoxicity, and cause serious sequels on the
child development .
Nervous system infection is one of the 2 major problems in clinical practice, especially during the first month after
birth . During this first month, the
nervous system infection develops special characteristics, which are different from regular symptoms and it requires
treatment due to the increased
risk to develop
complications . It is strongly recommended to monitor ototoxic
drugs use to prevent effects on the
hearing system.