Stribos Michael P., Jones Elizabeth B.
UT Houston
McGovern Medical School
Bacterial meningitis affects more than 1 million people per year globally and ranks as one of the top ten most deadly infectious diseases. Bacterial meningitis has a high frequency of neurologic sequelae and mortality and is treatable with antibiotics, which makes the diagnosis extremely important and time-sensitive. As compared with other febrile illnesses, bacterial meningitis is relatively rare. Because of this, many clinical tests have been described to help providers differentiate meningitis from other causes of fever and headache. Two of the most commonly used are Kernig's and Brudzinski's signs. The original report of Brudzinski's sign was in the late 1800s by Dr. Josef Brudzinski. At that time, he described four maneuvers to aid in the clinical diagnosis of meningitis. The four maneuvers he described included the Brudzinski's reflex, the cheek sign, the nape of the neck sign and the symphyseal sign. The most popular of the maneuvers is the nape of the neck sign, currently known as Brudzinski's sign.
细菌性脑膜炎每年在全球影响超过100万人，是十大最致命的传染病之一。细菌性脑膜炎有很高的神经后遗症发生率和死亡率，可用抗生素治疗，这使得诊断极其重要且具有时间敏感性。与其他发热性疾病相比，细菌性脑膜炎相对少见。因此，已经描述了许多临床试验来帮助医生区分脑膜炎与其他发热和头痛原因。最常用的两种是克尼格征和布鲁津斯基征。布鲁津斯基征最早由约瑟夫·布鲁津斯基医生在19世纪末报道。当时，他描述了四种有助于脑膜炎临床诊断的手法。他描述的四种手法包括布鲁津斯基反射、脸颊征、颈后征和耻骨联合征。其中最常用的手法是颈后征，即目前所知的布鲁津斯基征。
