Epidemiological and Evolutionary Profile of Bacterial Meningitis in Children Under 12 Years of Age in the Kenitra Region, Morocco

Abstract

Introduction: Bacterial meningitis in children, constitutes a serious public health problem in Morocco. The aim of this work was to describe the epidemiological, bacteriological and evolutionary profile of bacterial meningitis in patients admitted to the Cherif Idrissi Hospital of kenitra. Methods: This is a retrospective study of children with meningitis with an average age of less than 5.55±0.25 years (minimum= 1 year and less; maximum= 12 years), from 2010 to 2018. Results: We collected 200 cases. The median age was 6 years, with a male predominance. The main germs isolated were Neisseria meningitidis (25%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (33.5%). The case fatality rate was estimated at 8%. Conclusion: The results of our study have confirmed the important lethality of meningitis. Therefore, the health authorities must organize diagnosis and treatment campaigns especially in the environment at risk and make sure to carry out epidemiological studies around each case, and chemoprophylaxis for contacts, in order to reduce the mortality rate related to this pathology, without forgetting the fight against meningitis in an endemic country like ours.