Management of presumptive bacterial meningitis in childhood: a practical approach.

Precise bacteriological diagnosis in acute meningitis is sometimes difficult. The present study, in which 59 of 97 children received chemotherapy for presumptive bacterial meningitis and of whom only 40 were subsequently proved to have a bacterial aetiology, reflects this. The diagnostic data from these 97 patients have therefore been reviewed in an attempt to identify factors which may assist discrimination of bacterial from non-bacterial meningitis. A decision plan for the management of suspected bacterial meningitis, based on these results, is suggested.