Determination of Bacterial Meningitis Agents among Children in Yasuj City

Background and Objectives: Bacterial meningitis is still one of the most dangerous infectious diseases that, though curable, might lead to death due to the lack of timely diagnosis and treatment. Using RT-PCR, the present study aimed to investigate the most common bacterial agents that cause meningitis in children aged 1 month to 14 years, admitted to Imam Sajjad Hospital in Yasuj, Iran. Materials and Methods: During the year 2018, there were studied 106 children of 1 month to 14 years, who had undergone LP for clinical suspected meningitis and were evaluated in CSF analysis and were with white blood cell count more than 5. One cc of their CSF was stored at -20 ° C and transferred to the microbiology center of Professor Alborzai in the city of Shiraz, Iran, and subjected to PCR for bacteria of pneumococcus, meningococcus, and Haemophilus influenza. Patients demographic informations and other history and physical examination data and their laboratory findings were recorded in a data collection form. The results were analyzed by SPSS 21. Results: The results of the PCR after examination of 106 children showed 25 cases of pneumococcus and 11 cases of Haemophilus influenza type b. No positive results were found for meningococcal and listeria monocytogen. Only one CSF culture was positive, which was coagulase-positive staphylococci.There were only 8 cases of positive blood culture. The most common symptom was fever (89.6%).54 patients (50.9%) were between one month to one year old and 67% were boys. Conclusion: According to the results, it can be concluded that pneumococcus and then influenza Haemophilus type b are the major bacterial agents that cause meningitis in children in the studied area. Also, the results of CSF culture and blood culture are very poor with the results of PCR.