C-reactive protein and bacterial meningitis.

We have studied prospectively the C-reactive protein values in the cerebrospinal fluid of 54 patients with bacterial meningitis, tuberculous meningitis, and severe malarial infection and convulsions without infections of the central nervous system. CSF CRP above 1 mg/l was observed in 23 out of 28 patients with bacterial meningitis (sensitivity of 82%). The specificity was 73% at the 1 mg/l level. Five out of 19 patients with severe malarial infection had CSF CRP levels above 1 mg/l. Two patients with TB meningitis were also studied. Both of them had CSF CRP above 1 mg/l. Five patients with febrile convulsions or sepsis without meningitis had CSF CRP below 1 mg/l. It is concluded that CSF CRP would not be used as a useful discriminatory test in areas where malaria and TB meningitis are common.