Introduction: Bacterial meningitis is one of the most serious infectious diseases in childhood.
Aim: To identify the most common causes of bacterial meningitis in children in Tuzla Canton.
Patients and methods: This is a retrospective study which included 140 children, aged from 1 month to 14 years, treated at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases Tuzla, in the period 1999-2009, who had clinical and laboratory parameters of bacterial meningitis.
Results: In Tuzla Canton in ten year period were registered 140 cases of bacterial meningitis in children aged 1 month to 14 years. Prevalence was 1.53/1000. The average age of patients was 3.6 +/- 3.8 years. Male to female ratio was 1.3:1. April, May and November were the months with the most reported cases of bacterial meningitis (p = 0.02). Most affected were children 1-12 months of age (p < 0.001). The most common pathogens of bacterial meningitis were Haemophilus influenzae (13.6%), Neisseria meningitides (8.6%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (5.7%) (p < 0.001). Mortality was 2.14%.
Conclusion: Bacterial meningitis is present in Tuzla Canton, and three major pathogens are Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitis and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The most affected were children 1-12 months of age, and most cases of bacterial meningitis occurred in spring.