Prevalence of Bacterial Meningitis in Children with Apparent Febrile Convulsion

As a pediatric emergency, febrile convulsion is the most common form of seizure in children in the age range of four months to five years. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of bacterial meningitis among children with simple febrile convulsion.
In this retrospective study, all children aged 6 to 18 months presenting with the first episodes of simple febrile convulsions admitted to Dr. Sheikh and Imam Reza Pediatric Hospitals in Mashhad between 2011 and 2015 were tested for cerebrospinal fluid. Analysis of Age, Gender, cerebrospinal fluid, and cerebrospinal fluid culture was recorded.
From among 1,164 patients, 305 children were enrolled in this study. Out of them, 16 patients (5.2%) reported positive Lumbar Puncture outcomes, one (6.3%) of whom was less than one year old, and 15 (93.7 percent) were more than one year old. Six of these patients had received the MMR vaccine one to three weeks before admission. One of the patients who tested positive for Lumbar Puncture and had a negative cerebrospinal fluid culture was admitted to the hospital with personal consent. Aseptic meningitis was diagnosed with non-positive culture in the other nine patients. No bacterial meningitis was confirmed between the evaluated patients.
It is confirmed that the incidence of bacterial meningitis in simple febrile convulsion is very low. Therefore, the results may recommend avoiding routine Lumbar Punctures in patients with simple febrile convulsion.