Introduction
There is no uniformity of opinion in pediatric circles concerning chemoprophylaxis of young children after intimate exposure to Hemophilus influenzae meningitis. The standard pediatric texts1-3 offer no comment on this point, nor is there any mention of it in numerous reviews of bacterial meningitis.4-7 A symposium on chemoprophylaxis of infection by Petersdorf8 does not discuss this illness. In 3 major texts of infectious diseases,9-11 there is a variation in emphasis on prophylaxis of H. influenzae disease. Krugman and Ward9 state that prophylaxis is unnecessary, Top10 makes no comment, but Stimson and Hodes11 recommend prophylaxis.Since at present over 90% of deaths from H. influenzae meningitis occur under the age of 1 year, even though only 50% of the cases occur by this age, it is evident that this young age group should be managed differently from the older group.This paper will