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Journal of Tropical Pediatrics 1996 42(5):256-261; doi:10.1093/tropej/42.5.256
© 1996 by Oxford University Press
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Pediatric Meningitis in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

P. R. Donald, FCP(SA), MRCP(UK), DTM&H, MD, M. F. Cotton, FCP(SA), MMed(Paed), DTM&H, M. K. Hendricks, MMed(Paed), MTrop Paed(UK), DCH, H. S. Schaaf, Dip Com Health, MMed(Paed), Jane N. de Villiers, Dip Gen Nurs Sc & Midw and T. E. Willemse, Nat Dip Med Tech*

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Tygerberg Hospital and the University of Stellenbosch PO Box 19063, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa
*Department of Medical Microbiology, Tygerberg Hospital and the University of Stellenbosch PO Box 19063, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa

During the 9 years 1985–1993 a prospective survey of all cases of meningitis in children <13 years of age presenting to our hospital in the Western Cape Province of South Africa was carried out. Two-thousand-nine-hundred-and-twenty cases of meningitis were identified. The commonest form of bacterial meningitis was tuberculous meningitis (TBM) diagnosed in 282 children (mean age 2.94 years). N. meningitidis identified in 220 children (mean age 2.87 years), Haemophilus influenzae in 156 children (mean age 1.15 years) and S. pneumoniae in 106 children (mean age 2.14) were the next commonest causes of bacterial meningitis diagnosed. One-hundred-and-eighteen cases of bacterial meningitis were confirmed in infants <1 month of age and the commonest bacteria identified were group B betahaemolytic Streptococcus in 27, E. coli in 21, Klebsiella species in 11, and Candida species in 15 neonates. The emergence of TBM as the predominant cause of bacterial meningitis in childhood at our hospital is probably a reflection of the worsening tuberculosis situation in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.


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