Pneumococcal meningitis: a clinical and laboratory study.
Forty-two patients who were admitted consecutively with pneumococcal meningitis during an 18-month period were studied in Ahmadu Bello University Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria. The disease was seen most frequently in older children and young adults. A predisposing condition was found in only four patient...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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1976
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| _version_ | 1797060894919753728 |
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| author | Tugwell, P Greenwood, B Warrell, D |
| author_facet | Tugwell, P Greenwood, B Warrell, D |
| author_sort | Tugwell, P |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Forty-two patients who were admitted consecutively with pneumococcal meningitis during an 18-month period were studied in Ahmadu Bello University Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria. The disease was seen most frequently in older children and young adults. A predisposing condition was found in only four patients. Counter-current immunoelectrophoresis was found to be a rapid and effective method of diagnosis: pneumococcal polysaccharide antigen was found in the initial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sample from all but one of the patients. Detailed physiological studies carried out in two patients showed profound disturbances of cerebral carbohydrate metabolism and an increase in cerebral vascular resistance. Twenty patients died (48 per cent) in spite of treatment with large doses of penicillin. A fatal outcome was associated with impairment of consciousness on admission, a low CSF white cell count and a high CSF antigen titre. It is suggested that marked changes in cerebral carbohydrate metabolism, and perhaps vascular damage, play important roles in producing severe brain damage in patients with pneumococcal meningitis and that defective CSF polymorphoneutrophil leukocyte function may contribute to the failure of the infection to respond satisfactorily to antibiotic therapy. |
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| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:2e9a039d-888b-4775-abf0-ba10728eb0e0 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:23:24Z |
| publishDate | 1976 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:2e9a039d-888b-4775-abf0-ba10728eb0e02022-03-26T12:49:52ZPneumococcal meningitis: a clinical and laboratory study.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:2e9a039d-888b-4775-abf0-ba10728eb0e0EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford1976Tugwell, PGreenwood, BWarrell, DForty-two patients who were admitted consecutively with pneumococcal meningitis during an 18-month period were studied in Ahmadu Bello University Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria. The disease was seen most frequently in older children and young adults. A predisposing condition was found in only four patients. Counter-current immunoelectrophoresis was found to be a rapid and effective method of diagnosis: pneumococcal polysaccharide antigen was found in the initial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sample from all but one of the patients. Detailed physiological studies carried out in two patients showed profound disturbances of cerebral carbohydrate metabolism and an increase in cerebral vascular resistance. Twenty patients died (48 per cent) in spite of treatment with large doses of penicillin. A fatal outcome was associated with impairment of consciousness on admission, a low CSF white cell count and a high CSF antigen titre. It is suggested that marked changes in cerebral carbohydrate metabolism, and perhaps vascular damage, play important roles in producing severe brain damage in patients with pneumococcal meningitis and that defective CSF polymorphoneutrophil leukocyte function may contribute to the failure of the infection to respond satisfactorily to antibiotic therapy. |
| spellingShingle | Tugwell, P Greenwood, B Warrell, D Pneumococcal meningitis: a clinical and laboratory study. |
| title | Pneumococcal meningitis: a clinical and laboratory study. |
| title_full | Pneumococcal meningitis: a clinical and laboratory study. |
| title_fullStr | Pneumococcal meningitis: a clinical and laboratory study. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pneumococcal meningitis: a clinical and laboratory study. |
| title_short | Pneumococcal meningitis: a clinical and laboratory study. |
| title_sort | pneumococcal meningitis a clinical and laboratory study |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tugwellp pneumococcalmeningitisaclinicalandlaboratorystudy AT greenwoodb pneumococcalmeningitisaclinicalandlaboratorystudy AT warrelld pneumococcalmeningitisaclinicalandlaboratorystudy |