Decline in pneumococcal meningitis in Spain after introduction of the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

All patients < or =14 years old with a diagnosis of pneumococcal meningitis (n = 160) were included (2001, 2004-2006). Incidence per 100,000 child <5 years old varied from 6.14 in 2001 to 2.

Clinical data and factors associated with poor outcome in pneumococcal meningitis.

We carried out a 4-year study of 159 children (ages 1 month-14 years) with pneumococcal meningitis. The study was divided into two periods: the retrospective period (1998-2000: 107 patients), and the prospective period (2001-2002: 52 patients). About 2/3 of the children were under 2 years of age: 72 (45%) were under 1 year of age and 38 (24%) had meningitis during the second year of life.

[Prevalence pneumococcal meningitis in Spanish children].

Objective: To determine the prevalence of pneumococcal meningitis in the pediatric population in Spain. Material and methods Retrospective multicenter study performed in five autonomous communities (Catalonia, Galicia, Madrid, Navarre and the Basque Country) between January 1998 and December 2000. All patients aged between 0 and 14 years old with a diagnosis of pneumococcal meningitis (Streptococcus pneumoniae isolation or presence of Gram-positive diplococcus in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and CSF with more than 20 cells) in all the hospitals of the five autonomous communities were included in the study.

Usefulness of the head-upright tilt test for distinguishing syncope and epilepsy in children.

Purpose: Episodic loss of consciousness in children, whether or not associated with hypertonia or short-duration clonic movements, presents a diagnostic challenge to the pediatrician and child neurologist. We provide some evidence of the usefulness of the head-upright tilt test for investigating the causes of transient loss of consciousness in children, and for distinguishing between syncope, convulsive syncope, and epilepsy.

Methods: We studied nine children previously diagnosed as epileptic on the basis of compatible clinical events and epileptiform findings in routine EEGs who were treated over the long term with antiepileptic drugs, but whose clinical records suggested syncope or convulsive syncope rather than epilepsy on reevaluation.