Epidemiology of Haemophilus influenzae infections in Malaysian hospitals

Abstract

Haemophilus influenza is a leading cause of meningitis in children and frequently associated with otitis media, sinusitis, pneumonia and septicaemia. This study in 7 centres in Malaysia showed that H. influenzae infections was seen in all age groups with the peak incidence occurring in children less than 10 years of age. Invasive diseases occurred in 92.9% of this age group of which 54.3% were infants. All H. influenzae recovered from meningitis occurred in infants between 4-11 months old. Out of 354 H. influenzae strains, 78(22.0%) belonged to serotype b of which 12(15.4%) were strains isolated from invasive infections. Resistance to ampicillin and chloramphenicol was noted in 13.5% and 2.6% of the isolates respectively. In view of high morbidity and mortality related to the disease, together with emergence of resistance strains, the available capsular polysaccharide protein-conjugate vaccine may have a useful role in our population.