Tuberculous meningitis: E-rosette-forming T lymphocytes in cerebrospinal fluid.

T-lymphocyte subpopulations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and peripheral blood fo 20 tuberculous meningitis patients were enumerated by sheep erythrocyte rosette assays. There were fewer active and total T lymphocytes in peripheral blood in patients than in controls. But patient CSF T-lymphocyte subpopulations were significantly higher than their peripheral blood values and no different proportionally from normal peripheral blood values. The results support the concept of immunologic compartmentalization of the neuraxis from the rest of the body.