We reviewed the charts of 176 adult patients, admitted with a diagnosis of acute bacterial meningitis, in the Hospital Couto Maia, from January 1990 to December 1992. All the patients had community-acquired meningitis. In 120 patients we could identify the causative agent on Gram's staining and culture. The most common pathogens were N. meningitidis (56.7%) S. pneumoniae (37.5%) and E. coli (3.3%). The overall lethality rate was 19.8% and the lethality was greater in the group with streptococcus meningitis (31.8%). The mean age and the leukocyte in the peripheral blood were greater in the group with S. pneumoniae meningitis than in the meningococal group. Cutaneous hemorrhagic lesions was an excellent predictor meningococcal meningitis.
bacterial meningitis; adults; septicemia; central nervous system infection