An Epidemiological Profile of Meningitis and Encephalitis in Adults Admitted to Benghazi Medical Centre in 2018

Objective: To describe epidemiological profile with respect to demographics and seasonal variations in occurrence of Meningitis, Encephalitis and Meningoencephalitis.

Methods: A retrospective review of medical records of meningitis and Encephalitis and Meningo-encephalitis cases from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2018 from Medicine department at Benghazi Medical Center in Benghazi city, Libya. All patients meeting the case definition were included .Data were collected using questionnaire on demographics including, age, sex, Address, and date of admission and date of discharge, diagnosis.

Results: From January to December 2018, 31 cases were identified, the mean age of all cases was (41.2) years. There were 20 (66.7%) of them males and 10 (33.3%) were females. The proportion of diagnosis of meningitis, encephalitis, and Meningoencephalitis was (22.6%), (25.8%), (51.6%) respectively. Differences were observed in the occurrence of each infection during the year seasons.

Conclusion: Based on data obtained, most infections occured in older age with gender differences in each type of infection. Seasonal variations noticed in all infections. This descriptive study was used as a screening tool to track cases and further larger epidemiological study is needed in order to plan effective preventive and surveillance measures.