THE WIDAL REACTION IN TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.

EVALUATION OF DIRECT MICROSCOPY, CULTURE, AND POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS

In view of the importance of early diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM), the efficiency of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), one of the most reliable and sensitive DNA-based assays, was compared with conventional methods (acid-fast microscopy and culture) for the detection of M. tuberculosis in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens from patients suspected of TBM. Of the 29 CSF specim...

Widal reaction in Kala-azar.

Enteric fever(l) and Kala-azar (vis-ceral leishmaniasis) are endemic, in and around Patna. Kala-azar usually has an indolent course but it can present as an acute disease with fever, anorexia and vomiting(2,3). At times both the diseases are so closely similar in their presentation , that differential diagnosis is not always clear, Widal test, inspite of its limitations and fallacies is still w...

The Widal Agglutination Reaction in Healthy Persons

Tuberculous Meningitis

This is a brief review of the cases of tuberculous meningitis treated at Ham Green Hospital with streptomycin. Since 1948, seventy-seven cases have been admitted and of these thirty-five (45 per cent) are still living. For the purpose of this review seventeen cases are excluded?eight because they have been admitted too recently and nine, the earliest cases, either because they received quite in...

Tuberculous meningitis in the elderly.

Six cases of tuberculous meningitis, all occurring in patients over the age of 65, are described. All patients presented with an acute illness, primarily with a confusional state. Headache was a symptom in only two patients and the cases were not confined to ethnic minority groups. The mortality was 50%.