Authors

1Francisco Javier Barbancho Cisneros, 2Francisco Tirado Altamirano, 2Luis Mariano Hernández Neila, 2Andrés Moreno Méndez, 2Jesús Prieto Moreno

Position

¹Doctor en Medicina. Profesor del Departamento de Enfermería de la Universidad de Extremadura (UEX). ²Diplomados en Enfermería. Profesores del Departamento de Enfermería de la UEX.

Contact address

Centro Universitario de Plasencia. Universidad de Extremadura. Avda. Virgen del Puerto, 2. 10600 Plasencia, Cáceres.

Contact email: fbarbancho@unex.es

Abstract

Bacterial meningitis is a frequent condition during the infancy and serious due to its morbidity and mortality. The aetiology is clearly related to the age. After the first month of life and up to the age of 14, 90% or more of meningitis cases are caused by three germs: Neisseria Meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. During the last years, epidemiological changes have taken place due to a modification in the order of the incidence of the pathological germs involved, and also due to therapeutic problems that have developed as a result of increasing resistance to antibiotics.

The availability of very effective vaccines for Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria Meningitidis C have resulted in a drastic decrease in the first type and are now beginning to reduce the second.

An effective vaccine for S. pneumoniae has been recently developed that has already been used in some countries and that will presumably achieve a decrease in the incidence rate of this infection.

This article analyses the new epidemiological situation of meningitis and advocates the use of heptavalent pneumococcal conjugates vaccines in Spain.

 

Keywords:

bacterial meningitis; epidemiology; prevention; immunizationchildhood

Versión en Español

Título:

Estado actual de la epidemiología y la prevención de las meningitis bacterianas en la infancia en España