Analysis on epidemiological features of patients with epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis in Quzhou from 1985 to 2010

Objective To study the epidemiological characteristics of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis and to provide scientific evidence for the prevention.Methods Descriptive epidemiological analysis was conducted for the data collected from 1985 to 2010.Results A total of 985 patients with epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis including 39 deaths were reported in Quzhou city over a 26 year period,among which 877(89.04%) patients were diagnosed from 1985 to 1990.Most cases appeared from February to April and were children under 15 years old,followed by farmers and students.Conclusions Although the epidemiological study indicated that the number of patients with epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis decreased gradually from 1985 to 2010,the high risk of the infection still exists because of presence of healthy carriers.