Diagnosis and Management of Bacterial Meningitis in the Paediatric Population: A Review

Table 1

Causative organisms.

Organism	Comment
Streptococcus pneumoniae	Commonest organism; Affects healthy children; Additional risk factors: basilar skull or cribriform fracture, asplenism, HIV, and cochlear implants
Neisseria meningitidis	Can cause epidemic, endemic, or sporadic infections
Haemophilus influenzae type B	Reduced incidence after introduction of vaccination program
Group B streptococcus	The less common pathogens; Group B streptococcus, E. Coli and L. monocytogenes more common in neonates
Escherichia coli
Non typeable H. influenzae
Other gram-negative bacilli
Listeria monocytogenes
Group A streptococci
Staphylococcal species	Penetrating head trauma and neurosurgery
Streptococci
Aerobic gram-negative bacilli