TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Chapter 16. Meningitis A1 - Harper, Marvin B. A2 - Shah, Samir S. PY - 2009 T2 - Pediatric Practice: Infectious Disease AB - Meningitis is defined as an inflammation of the leptomeninges of any cause. Bacteria, which cause meningitis by invading and replicating in the subarachnoid space, are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Viral infections may also cause meningitis, most commonly enteroviruses, but few children with viral meningitis suffer any long-term sequelae. Therefore, the focus of this chapter will be on bacterial meningitis. Figure 16–1 displays the age and organism-specific rates of bacterial meningitis in the United States prior to the introduction of currently used conjugate vaccines (note the y-axis is a log scale). As can be seen, the greatest risk period for bacterial meningitis is in the first 6 months of life. SN - PB - The McGraw-Hill Companies CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/04/18 UR - accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=6903048 ER -