Meningitis - H. influenzae

Disease	Injury	Nutrition	Poison

Special Topic	Surgery	Symptoms	Test

Haemophilus influenza organism

Meningitis - H. influenzae

Alternative Names:

H. influenzae meningitis; H. flu meningitis

Symptoms:

Irritability,poor feeding in infants
Fever (in young infants the temperature may actually be below normal)
Severe headache (older children)
Nausea and vomiting
Stiff neck or pain in neck when flexed
Pain in back when neck is flexed foreward and chin brought toward chest (older children)
Unusual body posturing
Sensitivity to light

Signs and tests:

Bulging of the fontanelles ("soft spots") in infants
Opisthotonos (lying with the back arched, head, back, and chin up)
Seizures
Poor circulation
Mental status changes (irritability, stupor, coma)
Elevated white blood cell count in blood
Spinal fluid shows increased number of white blood cells
Spinal fluid culture showing bacteria
Serology (antibodies in blood) showing recent exposure to H. influenzae
Blood culture growing H. influenzae

Review Date: 7/31/2002
Reviewed By: Christopher Parsons, M.D., Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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