AIMData is lacking with regard to the epidemiology of invasive haemophilus influenzae (HI) disease in Malaysia. This study was carried out to document the epidemiology of invasive HI disease in hospitalised Kelantanese children.

METHODSWe conducted a retrospective study of 65 children who had invasive HI disease from June 1985 to December 1994. Data regarding age, sex, duration of illness, weight, diagnosis, complications, duration of hospitalisation, outcome, full blood count and sensitivity pattern of HI to various antibiotics were reviewed.

RESULTSThe age distribution varied from one day to 72 months with a mean of 13 months. Peak incidence occurred in the 7-12 months age group. Majority (89.1%) was below two years of age. The relative frequencies of the 75 clinical entities documented were as follows: meningitis 64%, pneumonia 29.3%, septicaemia 5.4%, and abscess 1.3%. In addition, 13.5% of cases had meningitis associated with pneumonia. Serotype b accounted for all strains in cases where serotyping was done. Anaemia (Hb < 10 g%) was seen in 71.4% of cases. Long term complications were noted in 41.5% of cases of meningitis. Case fatality rate was 12.3%. The percentage of HI strains sensitive to penicillin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol and co-trimoxazole were 83.7%, 87.7%, 98.2% and 89.7%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe data suggest that invasive HI disease causes considerable morbidity and mortality in Kelantanese children.