Etiology and risk factors of meningitis in patients admitted at a Central Hospital in Harare.

Objective: To determine etiology and risk factors of meningitis in patients admitted a tertiary referral Hospital in Harare.

Design: Cross-Sectional Study.

Setting: Urban Referral Health Facility.

Subjects: Patients suspected of having Meningitis admitted at Parirenyatwa Hospital were consecutively consented and recruited into the study until sample size accrual.

Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence of pathogens associated with Meningitis. Risk factors of meningitis.

Results: Two Hundred and Ninety Six (296) clinically suspected meningitis patients were recruited into the study, 51.7 %( n=115) were male. Meningitis was confirmed in 20.6% (n=61) cases with the following pathogen proportions, C. neoformans - 45.9 %( n=28), S. pneumoniae – 27.9 % (n=17), TBM – 4.9 %( n=3), probable viral meningitis – 6.6% (n=4 and other bacteria- 14.8% (n=9). Patients from crowded households were also more likely to suffer from meningitis than those from sparsely populated households (p<0.001).

Conclusion: The use of Latex agglutination increases the proportion of detected pathogens both fungal and bacterial when used in conjunction with CSF gram stain and culture. Cryptococcus neoformans and S. pneumoniae are the leading causes of meningitis in patients admitted at Parirenyatwa Hospital.