Meningitis - H. influenzae

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Haemophilus influenza organism

Influenza

H. influenzae meningitis; H. flu meningitis

• 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 forward and chin brought toward chest (older children)
• Unusual body positions
• Sensitivity to light

For any patient with meningitis, it is important to perform a lumbar puncture (spinal tap), where a spinal fluid (known as cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF) is collected for testing.

Other signs and tests include:

• Bulging of the fontanelles (the soft spots on an infant's head)
• Opisthotonos (lying with the back arched, head, back, and chin up)
• Seizures
• Poor circulation (blood flow through the body)
• Mental status changes (such as irritability, reduced consciousness, coma)
• High white blood cell count in blood
• Spinal fluid showing 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: 09/06/2006
Reviewed By: Hilary M. Babcock, M.D., Medical Director of Occupational Infection Control, Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's Hospitals; Instructor of Medicine, Infectious Disease Division, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.