Bacterial Meningitis — A Review of Selected Aspects

Abstract

Factors Influencing MortalityIn this series the highest mortality rate among the three major types was in pneumococcal meningitis (Table 2). Weinstein⁵⁵ has indicated that the presence of advanced age, coexisting illnesses, coma, delay in instituting therapy and the presence of bacteremia contribute to a poor prognosis in this disease. Our results are in keeping with this. Bacteremia was demonstrated in all the fatal cases and in over 50 per cent of the entire group of patients; the overall mortality in the current series was 29 per cent. However, 4 of the deaths were not directly attributable to the meningitis . . .