| Abstrakt: |
The paper reviews some recent advances in the assessment and treatment of children with suspected or proven bacterial meningitis. The mortality of this infection remains approximately five percent in older children and 15-20 percent in neonates, despite increasingly potent antimicrobial agents and significant advances in adjunctive medical therapies. Furthermore, the rate of sequelae, most commonly neurologic, remains between 30-40 percent. A variety of newer antimicrobial agents including the third generation cephalosporins, carbapenems, and monobactams, have been developed and hold promise for the treatment of bacterial meningitis. In neonatal meningitis, an ampicillin plus aminoglycoside regimen has remained the treatment of choice for more than a decade. |
