[Meningitis and encephalitis in 1997].

In 1997, 4,409 cases of meningitis and 632 cases of encephalitis were reported in Poland. Meningitis incidence rate was 11.4 per 100,000, and was 3-times lower than in 1996. The etiology of meningitis cases was as follows: 2,713 (61.5%) were due to viral agents (ECHO 30 dominated), 1,351 (30.7%) were caused by bacterial agents: 144 meningococcal (3.3%) and 1,207 other bacterial. The bacterial etiology was following: 33.2% were due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, 27.6% were cased by Haemophilus influenzae type b, and 11.6% by Staphylococci. Encephalitis incidence rate was 1.6 per 100,000. There were 201 cases of tick-borne encephalitis, found mainly in endemic areas of Białystok and Suwałki voivodeships.