Answer
(a)
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Newborns suffer from meningitis caused by bacterial species that differ from the ones that cause meningitis in older children primarily because newborns are exposed to a different reservoir of infection during childbirth. Bacterial meningitis on newborn infants has a high mortality rate, about 50%, and is caused by Escherichia coli. In preschool age (2 months to 5 years), meningitis is caused by Haemophilus influenzae, type b; Neisseria meningitidis.
