[Purulent meningitis. Presentation of 47 cases].

We report 47 patients with purulent meningitis who were seen at our institution during the last 3 years. In 42.5% of patients an upper respiratory infection previous to the onset of the clinical features of meningitis was demonstrated. We had positive bacteriological results in 47% of cases. In the remaining patients the culture was negative. 56% of these had received previous antibiotic therapy. Only 4 patients died, all of them with initial septic shock. The therapy of choice was i.v. ampicillin, at a dose of 1-3 g/4 hours.