Lee Kyung-Yil, Burgner David, Lee Hyung-Shin, Hong Ja-Hyun, Lee Mi-Hee, Kang Jin-Han, Lee Byung-Churl
Department of Pediatric, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
BMC Infect Dis. 2005 Nov 2;5:97. doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-5-97.
Aseptic meningitis is a relatively frequent childhood disease and virologic data suggest that enteroviruses are the commonest etiologic agents. We evaluated the epidemiologic characteristics of aseptic meningitis in Daejeon, South Korea from 1987 to 2003.
2201 medical records of children with aseptic meningitis admitted to The Catholic University of Korea, Daejeon St Mary's Hospital were retrospectively analyzed.
Outbreaks of aseptic meningitis were observed in 1990, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2001 and 2002. The age distribution of cases was relatively uniform, with a higher incidence in those aged < 1 year and 4-7 years. The male-to-female ratio was 2:1. There was a higher incidence of disease in the summer (May to August, 74.1% of total). Comparison of the largest epidemics in 1997 and 2002 showed significant differences in the incidence in those < 1 year (11.8% vs. 4.4%, respectively; P = 0.001). Neurologic sequelae were observed in 0.7% of the patients.
Aseptic meningitis, rare before the 1980s in Korea, has since become a common clinical entity. Since 1990, outbreaks of aseptic meningitis have occurred every 1 to 3 years in Daejeon in keeping with Korea-wide epidemics. The frequency of disease affecting children less than one year of age may reflect herd immunity to the epidemic strain.
无菌性脑膜炎是一种相对常见的儿童疾病，病毒学数据表明肠道病毒是最常见的病原体。我们评估了1987年至2003年韩国大田无菌性脑膜炎的流行病学特征。
对韩国天主教大学大田圣母医院收治的2201例无菌性脑膜炎患儿的病历进行回顾性分析。
1990年、1993年、1996年、1997年、2001年和2002年观察到无菌性脑膜炎的暴发。病例的年龄分布相对均匀，1岁以下和4至7岁的发病率较高。男女比例为2:1。夏季发病率较高（5月至8月，占总数的74.1%）。对1997年和2002年最大规模疫情的比较显示，1岁以下儿童的发病率存在显著差异（分别为11.8%和4.4%；P = 0.001）。0.7%的患者出现神经系统后遗症。
无菌性脑膜炎在20世纪80年代以前在韩国很少见，此后已成为一种常见的临床病症。自1990年以来，大田每1至3年就会发生无菌性脑膜炎疫情，与全国范围的疫情一致。影响1岁以下儿童的疾病发生率可能反映了对流行毒株的群体免疫。
