875 Cases of bacterial meningitis: Diagnostic procedures and the impact of preadmission antibiotic therapy Part III of a three-part series
Abstract
Data on the bacteriological findings, diagnostic measures and clinical course of 875 patients with bacterial meningitis are presented. Findings from the medical records and from a follow-up questionnaire survey of 667 of these cases revealed no significant difference between patients treated with antibiotics before admission (pretreated) and those who were not treated before admission (non-pretreated) with respect to clinical condition on admission, mortality and late sequelae. Pretreatment was, however, associated with a longer duration of symptoms. Apart from cases due to Neisseria meningitidis, there were no significant differences in diagnostic findings between pretreated and non-pretreated cases. In the group of pretreated meningococcal patients, however, positive blood cultures, pleiocytosis in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and positive cultures from sites other than blood and CSF were less frequent than in the non-pretreated cases.
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Culture of the CSF is considered the gold standard for diagnosis of bacterial meningitis.
“While culture of the CSF is considered the gold standard for diagnosis of bacterial meningitis (19, 20), final results of culture are often not available until 48 or more hours after specimen collection.”
From Multicenter Evaluation of BioFire FilmArray Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel for Detection of Bacteria, Viruses, and Yeast in Cerebrospinal Fluid Specimens (2016) · cites this paper as [19]
Final results of CSF culture are often not available until 48 or more hours after specimen collection.
“While culture of the CSF is considered the gold standard for diagnosis of bacterial meningitis (19, 20), final results of culture are often not available until 48 or more hours after specimen collection.”
From Multicenter Evaluation of BioFire FilmArray Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel for Detection of Bacteria, Viruses, and Yeast in Cerebrospinal Fluid Specimens (2016) · cites this paper as [19]
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“Administration of antibiotics before the lumbar puncture only slightly decreases the sensitivity (6–8).”
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- Authors
- Bohr, V., Rasmussen, N., Hansen, B., Kjersem, H., Jessen, O., Johnsen, N., & Kristensen, H. S.
- Affiliations
- Statens Serum Institut (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Bohr, Vilhelm
- Jessen, Ove
- Venue
- Journal of Infection
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1983-11
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 193-202
- ISSN
- 0163-4453 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2024506731
- Cited by
- 112
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 4 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Infection (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Bacterial Infections and Vaccines
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Clinical Biochemistry › Bacterial Identification and Susceptibility Testing
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Infectious Diseases and Tuberculosis
- Keywords
- bacterial meningitis, Neisseria meningitidis, meningococcal meningitis, bacteriological diagnosis, clinical course, mortality, long-term sequelae, symptom duration, blood culture, pleocytosis, cerebrospinal fluid culture
- MeSH terms
- Anti-Bacterial Agents, Humans, Meningitis, Neisseria meningitidis, Time Factors
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