Viral meningitis

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Abstract
How common is viral meningitis?Viral meningitis can occur at any age but is most common in young children. In the largest reported study, a 1966 birth cohort of 12 000 children in Finland, the annual incidence of presumed viral meningitis was 219 per 100 000 in infants under 1 year and 27.8 per 100 000 overall in children under 14.4 In a smaller retrospective study, the incidence of aseptic meningitis in people aged 16 and over was lower at 7.6 per 100 000.5Viral meningitis is a notifiable disease in England and Wales, but many cases undoubtedly go unreported.4 6 7 In 2005-6, 2898 people were admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of viral meningitis, 10 times the number of cases notified to the Health Protection Agency (233) for England and Wales over the same period (fig 1⇓).7 8View larger version: In this window In a new window Fig 1 Notifications of viral meningitis for England and Wales compared with hospital episodes in England