Hemophilus Influenzae Meningitis: Is Prophylaxis Indicated?

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 texts^1-3 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