PURULENT-MENINGITIS DUE TO FLAVOBACTERIUM-MENINGOSEPTICUM IN CAMEROONIAN CHILDREN

Following a number of reports of purulent CSF specimens positive for Flavobacterium meningosepticum in pediatric patients in Yaounde, a prospective study was carried out in the Department of Pediatrics of the Central Yaounde Hospital from December 1988 through December 1989. The goals of this study were to determine the incidence of Flavobacterium meningosepticum among infants and children with purulent meningitis, to discover the origin of this pathogen, and to examine its susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. Flavobacterium meningosepticum (18.4 % of cases) was second by order of incidence, after pneumococci (50 %). Incidences were low for the other pathogens usually described in purulent meningitis (H. influenzae, meningococcus...). All the pneumococcus strains recovered were susceptible to ampicillin. In contrast, 21.43 % of strains of Flavobacterium meningosepticum were resistant to both ampicillin and chloramphenicol (the combination currently used as first line therapy in the Department), and 14.25 % of strains were resistant to cefotaxime. The origin of the Flavobacterium meningosepticum strains found remains to be discovered. The low incidence of H. influenzae deserves to be reevaluated over the next few years.