[Purulent meningitis].

Purulent meningitis is a bacterial infection of the subarachnoid space. It constitutes a diagnostic and therapeutic emergency. The vital and functional prognosis is always engaged and depends on the rapidity and the adequacy of management. Treatment is based on a bactericidal antibiotic treatment which is at first empirically prescribed, on the basis of the underlying condition, the clinical examination and the epidemiological context, and then adjusted according to the micro-organism isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid. The recent emergence and increase of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae has led to a modification of antibiotic guidelines.