Acute bacterial meningitis cases diagnosed by culture and PCR in a children's hospital throughout a 9-Year period (2000-2008) in Athens, Greece.

Background And Objectives: Acute bacterial meningitis is one of the most severe infectious diseases, affecting mainly infants and, secondarily, older children and adolescents. Diagnosis in the early stages is often difficult and despite treatment with appropriate antibiotic therapy, the case fatality rate remains high. In the present study, the incidence of bacterial meningitis was registered in a general pediatric hospital in Athens, Greece, during a 9-year period (2000-2008), and the use of molecular methods in the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis versus the conventional cultural methods was evaluated.

Antimicrobial susceptibilities of Campylobacter jejuni isolates from hospitalized children in Athens, Greece, collected during 2004-2005.

A total of 170 Campylobacter jejuni strains isolated from the stool of children with clinical gastroenteritis, aged from 3 months to 14 years, were collected during a two-year period (2004-2005). From the 170 strains 30% were resistant to ciprofloxacin (MIC > or = 4 microg/ml), 55% to tetracycline (MIC > 8 microg/ml), 13% to clindamycin (MIC > or = 8 microg/ml), 4% to ampicillin (MIC > 16 microg/ml), 6% to erythromycin (MIC > or = 8 microg/ml), 4% to coamoxiclav (MIC > or = 16/8 microg/ml) and 0% to gentamicin. Compared to previous reports from Greece, the antimicrobial resistance rates to erythromycin, ampicillin and coamoxiclav remain low, while they are still high for tetracycline and ciprofloxacin.