Epidemiology of pneumococcal meningitis in Cuban children younger than 6 years

Abstract:

Introduction: pneumococcal meningitis is a serious global threat for small children. Objectives: to describe and to evaluate some epidemiological characteristics of pneumococcal meningitis in children aged less than 6 years, which offers a referent to show the subsequent changes and to evaluate the impact of potential interventions. Methods: a retrospective observational study was conducted in 483 notified cases (1998-2005) based on the national surveillance of community-acquired bacterial meningitis. The incidence and fatality rates (age group and sex) were estimated together with the probably included cases of meningitis caused by unidentified agent. The association of disease and death with some risks was also determined. Results: the incidence rate of children younger than 6 years was 3.4/105 pop with yearly variations. The breast-fed infants showed the highest incidence of 9.8/105 pop, particularly at the second, fourth and sixth months of age. Males slightly predominated over the females. There was not significant association between the disease and the day care/pre-school centers just in 2003, 2011, 2012 and 2015. The fatality rate reached 24.2 % with higher figures in breast-fed infants (25.8 %). Delay in having medical consultation (24 hours or more) was not associated to death but the late admission to hospital showed association just in breast-fed infants (p< 0.05). Conclusions: S. pneumoniae is the main lethal agent for bacterial meningitis at the community level in children aged less than 6 years, particularly in breast-fed ones. Although the actual number of cases may be higher than the reported one, the surveillance provides indispensable information for evaluation of impact of future interventions and subsequent changes.

Año de publicación:

2017

Keywords:

• epidemiology
• Pneumococcal meningitis
• Breast-fed infants
• CHILDREN
• Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines

Fuente:

scopus