Meningitis and Bacteremia due to Haemophilus influenzae: Occurrence and Mortality at Boston City Hospital in 12 Selected Years, 1935-1972

Abstract

During 12 selected years between 1935 and 1972, Haemophilus influenzae was grown from cerebrospinal fluid of 79 patients with meningitis and from blood of 72 others without meningitis. The vast majority of strains identified serologically were type b. Haemophilus parainfluenzae was identified in one additional case in each category. Most (85%) of the patients with meningitis were less than three years old; four were adults. Mortality associated with influenzal meningitis declined to a very low rate after the introduction of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Cases of bacteremia due to H. influenzae without meningitis increased after 1957. In infants and children, such cases were associated most frequently with pneumonia or tracheobronchitis and cellulitis, and also with otitis, epiglottitis, and septic arthritis; the rate of mortality was low, except in patients in the first six months of life. In adults, the focus of bacteremia due to H. influenzae was either the respiratory tract or not determined, and mortality was > 50%.