Viral Meningitis

Guideline to help with the interpretation of CSF results for the purpose of diagnosing or excluding meningitis.

Guideline for performing lumbar puncture.

Guideline for the assessment and management of meningitis-encephalitis.

Guideline discussing aseptic meningitis pathogens, clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and pathogen specific therapies.

Guidance for front line nurses on the early recognition of meningitis and sepsis (what to look for).

Objective: This review discusses the clinical signs and symptoms that should lead emergency physicians to consider CNS infection, paying particular attention to the sensitivity and specificity of different clinical findings at the bedside. Subsequently, the diagnostic workup and management of patients for whom there is high clinical suspicion for CNS infection is discussed.

Objective: Our study's purpose was to assess the utility of CSF lactate in differentiating bacterial meningitis from aseptic meningitis.

Objective: To seek evidence supporting accuracy of clinical features of pediatric bacterial meningitis.

Objective: To present an overview of the major clinical manifestations of HSV infections in the pediatric population.

Objective: This article addresses considerations in clinical evaluation, need for CNS imaging before LP, interpretation of cerebrospinal fluid results, standards for and effects of timely antibiotic administration, and recommendations for specific antimicrobial therapy and corticosteroids.

Objective: In this review we outline the changing epidemiology, discuss key clinical topics, and illustrate how identification of the specific viral cause is beneficial. Neonatal meningitis may be a component of perinatal infection and is not covered here.

Objective: The main objectives of this study were to identify the adherence of clinicians to IDSA guidelines regarding cranial imaging in patients with CAM, to evaluate the clinical and prognostic differences between those patients with and without an indication for cranial imaging, and to assess the clinical impact in management in those with abnormal intracranial findings with or without altered mental status as their sole indication for imaging.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of an EV positive diagnosis on the clinical management of patients admitted for meningitis over the course of two observational study periods (2005 and 2008-09) in the same clinical departments.

Objective: Enteroviruses (EV) are the main etiological agents of aseptic meningitis. Diagnosis is made by detecting the genome using RTPCR. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of a positive diagnosis on the management of infants, children, and adults.

Objective: To determine whether a ratio of observed to predicted (O:P) cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) white blood cells (WBCs) after a traumatic lumbar puncture (LP) can be used to predict which patients do not have meningitis and can safely be discharged from the hospital.

Objective: To assess 1) the characteristics of the CSF differential in aseptic versus bacterial meningitis, 2) the influence of duration of illness on the CSF differential, and 3) the role of the CSF differential in discriminating between aseptic versus bacterial meningitis.