Objectives: To evaluate the effect of late diagnosis and other factors on outcome of paediatric bacterial meningitis (BM) and recommend appropriate intervention.
Design: Case series.
Setting: University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria.
Subjects: 62 consecutive BM patients aged two months to 16 years admitted between 1991 and 1994.
Main outcome measures: Mortality rate.
Results: Diagnostic difficulties experienced in 58% of cases and other factors resulted in delayed diagnosis and high mortality (20 to 47%).
Conclusion: Only elimination of the identified inadequacies in management can significantly reduce the BM-related high mortality in developing countries.