AIM To compare presentation, progress, and outcome of acute bacterial meningitis in HIV seropositive and seronegative children. METHODS A double blind randomised placebo controlled study of the use of dexamethasone as adjuvant therapy in acute bacterial meningitis, in children aged 2 months to 13 years, was carried out from July 1997 to March 2001. A total of 598 children were enrolled, of wh...

Recurrence of bacterial meningitis in children is not only potentially life-threatening, but also involves or induces psychological trauma to the patients through repeated hospitalization and multiple invasive investigations if the underlying cause remains undetected. Bacteria migration, along congenital or acquired pathways from the skull or spinal dural defects, gains entrance into the centra...