title: Bacterial meningitis with initial normal cerebrospinal fluid findings.
abstract: Seven pediatric patients with bacterial meningitis but with initial normal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings are presented. They represent 6.5% of all cases with bacterial meningitis seen at our medical center during a 5-year period. In all cases, the duration of symptoms before the initial lumbar puncture was short (6-24 h). The case-fatality rate was 3/7 (43%) compared with 10/100 (10%) among children with abnormal initial CSF, despite early initiation of antibiotics. Bacterial meningitis with an initial normal CSF finding is not rare and may be associated with poor outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Soroka Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Golan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dagan
mesh_terms: D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000401:mortality; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008581:Meningitis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000401:mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies