ABSTRACT
A retrospective study was conducted on 28 patients with bacterial meningitis who were admitted to our department between April 1988 and March 2002. The most commonly detected pathogen was group B Streptococcus in those under 1 month of age and Haemophilus influenzae (72.2%) among those over 1 month. The most commonly administered antibiotic combination (67.9%) at the initial treatment was that of cefotaxime (CTX) and ampicillin (ABPC). We encountered one case that was resistant to both CTX and ABPC. Through this experience, it became apparent that for the initial treatment of bacterial meningitis in infants, it is necessary to apply a combination of two antibiotics, instead of a single agent, and new antibiotics should be considered for such combinations rather than persisting on conventional CTX and ABPC. The aforementioned 28 patients were divided into 2 groups--7 patients (25.0%) with sequelae and 21 (75.0%) without--and various factors noted during the diagnosis were evaluated retrospectively. It was found that the number of days leading to admission at the hospital and the development of convulsions were unrelated to the prognosis. Those who succumbed or suffered sequelae were all infants under 1 year of age. All cases were caused by genus Haemophilus.
