OBJECTIVE To evaluate evidence-based data on adjunctive glucocorticoid therapy in central nervous system bacterial infections. DESIGN A literature review of studies, particularly controlled trials, that have evaluated dexamethasone therapy for acute bacterial meningitis and glucocorticoid therapy for tuberculous meningitis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Clinical outcomes were mortality and morbidit...

Three patients with tuberculous meningitis complicated by hypersecretion of anti-diuretic hormone are described. The recognition of this complication is important in the treatment and prognosis of tuberculous meningitis.

INTRODUCTION Meningitis is still a major cause of illness in many parts of the world. Though substantial improvement has been occurred in the diagnosis of meningitis, conclusive differentiation between tubercular and pyogenic meningitis remains to be an unsolved problem. Patients with meningitis often have severe neurological deficit or die inspite of antibiotic therapy. Thus, improvement in di...

Syringomyelia associated with tuberculous meningitis is an extremely rare condition. Only a few studies have reported clinical experience with syringomyelia as a late complication of tuberculous meningitis. Twenty-six years after a tuberculous meningitis episode, a 44-year-old man presented with progressively worsening spastic paresis of the lower limbs and impaired urinary function for 2 years...

lAddy DP. When not to do a lumbar puncture. Arch Dis Child 1987 ;62:873-5. 2 Donald PR, Burger PJ, Becker WB. Paediatric meningitis in the Western Cape. A three year hospital-based prospective study. S Afr Med J 1986;70:391-5. 3Deeny JE, Walker MJI Kibel MA, Molteno CD. Arens LJ. Tuberculous meningitis in children in the Western Cape. Epidemiology and outcome. S Afr Med J 1985;68:75-8. 4Naughte...

The reported efficacy of BCG vaccine in preventing pulmonary tuberculosis varies from 0-80%; however, its efficacy in preventing tuberculous meningitis ranges from 52%-84%. A case-control study was conducted to assess the efficacy of BCG in preventing tuberculous meningitis in children. New cases of tuberculous meningitis, confirmed bacteriologically, were registered as cases. Controls were chi...

OBJECTIVE. Tuberculous meningitis is the most severe extrapulmonary complication of tuberculosis, with high morbidity and mortality rates. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between presenting clinical characteristics and outcome of pediatric tuberculous meningitis. PATIENTS AND METHODS.We present a retrospective cohort study of all of the children diagnosed with tubercu...

We aimed to evaluate the radiologic and clinical findings of patients with tuberculous meningitis encountered during a 4-year period, retrospectively. Sixteen patients with tuberculous meningitis were admitted to our hospital. The diagnosis was based on abnormal neurologic symptoms and signs, cerebrospinal fluid findings, negative bacteria culture, and abnormalities on brain-imaging studies. CT...

In this letter, we propose a novel method for diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis using Raman spectroscopy. The silicate Raman signature obtained from Mycobacterium tuberculosis positive cases enables specific and sensitive detection of tuberculous meningitis from acquired cerebrospinal fluid samples. The association of silicates with the tuberculosis mycobacterium is discussed. We envision tha...