Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0085437 (bacterial meningitis)
 4,038 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

During a 2-year period, a total of 43 incident cases of central nervous system infections occurred in the adult (aged 15 years and above) population in Benghazi, Libya. This comprised 17 patients with aseptic meningitis, 10 acute bacterial meningitis, four tuberculous meningitis, five encephalitis, four neurosyphilis, two hydatidosis and one bilharzial myelopathy. The aetiology of the aseptic meningitis and encephalitis could not be established. The annual incidence rates of aseptic, septic and tuberculous meningitis, and encephalitis were 3.4, 2, 0.8 and 1 per 100,000 population, respectively.
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PMID:Central nervous system infections in Benghazi, Libya: experience from a community-based adult medical neurology set-up. 358 92

The three main immunoglobulin classes obey the basic principles of passive protein transfer at the blood-CSF barrier and the serum-derived portions could therefore be quantified with the help of the permeability marker albumin. The Ig fractions secreted into the CSF by sessile plasma cell clones have been determined in various inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system. The humoral immune response in multiple sclerosis and chronic encephalitis of unknown cause was dominated by IgG antibodies. In most other inflammatory diseases IgA and IgM were concomitantly synthesized, e.g. in neurosyphilis and meningoencephalitis caused by viruses of the herpes group. In tick-borne meningopolyneuritis Bannwarth, only IgM and in bacterial meningitis only IgA may be produced locally. The detection of a secretory immunoglobulin fraction in the CSF may be the sole laboratory parameter in chronic inflammatory processes of the nervous system.
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PMID:Differentiation of the humoral immune response in inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system. 618 10

The detection of IgE is technically difficult because of its reduced concentrations in serum, and even lower concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In the present investigation we studied 86 CSF samples using an immunoenzymatic method with an anti-IgE-alkaline phosphatase conjugate and a fluorigenic substrate. The samples were from three groups: A) 29 patients with neurocysticercosis (NC), B) 36 patients with different neurologic disorders (neurosyphilis, neurotuberculosis, meningitis, tumors, hemorrhage) and C) 21 discharged individuals who had been hospitalized for bacterial meningitis. The results obtained were: A) 0.05 to 3.00 IU/ml (0.76 +/- 0.79), B) 0.00 to 1.50 IU/ml (0.23 +/- 0.34) and C) 0.05 to 1.25 IU/ml (0.34 +/- 0.34). The present results suggest that IgE appears to play a role in the pathogeny of NC and that efforts should be made to standardize a test for the detection of specific IgE antibodies.
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PMID:Human neurocysticercosis. IgE in cerebrospinal fluid. 933 54

Laboratory techniques for the diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) infections are rapidly improving but at present have limitations that necessitate our guarded enthusiasm. Enteroviruses are the most common infectious agents of viral meningitis for which an etiology can be determined, and it is anticipated that the use of the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique should significantly improve the identification of the etiologic agent of aseptic meningitis. The combination of the polymerase chain reaction technique with laboratory methods for the determination of intrathecal antibody production to herpes simplex virus and varicella-zoster virus have improved the rapidity with which these viral infections can be diagnosed. The pearls and pitfalls of the use of these laboratory techniques in the diagnosis of viral meningitis, recurrent meningitis, and focal encephalitis are included. Recommendations for the empiric therapy of bacterial meningitis in children and adults have changed because of the emergence of penicillin and cephalosporin-resistant pneumococcal organisms. The currently recommended antibiotics and their dosages are included. The evidence for the efficacy of dexamethasone therapy in bacterial meningitis is provided. Meningitis due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis is increasingly recognized, and the initiation of empiric antituberculous chemotherapy should not await the results of CSF cultures. Toxoplasma encephalitis and primary CNS lymphoma are the most common cause of mass lesions in patients with HIV, and the diagnostic techniques to distinguish between these two infections is reviewed. A short discussion of the best test for the diagnosis of neurosyphilis is provided.
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PMID:Pearls and pitfalls in the diagnosis and management of central nervous system infectious diseases. 960 16

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis very frequently makes the difference to the diagnosis, not only in relation to infections but also in other diseases of the nervous system such as inflammatory, demyelinating, neoplastic and degenerative diseases. The authors review some practical and important features of CSF analysis in infectious diseases of the nervous system, with regard to acute bacterial meningitis, herpetic meningoencephalitis, neurotuberculosis, neurocryptococcosis, neurocysticercosis and neurosyphilis.
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PMID:Cerebrospinal fluid analysis in infectious diseases of the nervous system: when to ask, what to ask, what to expect. 2414 7

There is limited understanding of the epidemiology of meningitis among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected populations in sub-Saharan Africa. We conducted a prospective cohort study of HIV-infected adults with suspected meningitis in Uganda, to comprehensively evaluate the etiologies of meningitis. Intensive cerebrospiral fluid (CSF) testing was performed to evaluate for bacterial, viral, fungal, and mycobacterial etiologies, including neurosyphilis,16s ribosomal DNA (rDNA) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for bacteria, Plex-ID broad viral assay, quantitative-PCR for HSV-1/2, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and Toxoplasma gondii; reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for Enteroviruses and arboviruses, and Xpert MTB/RIF assay. Cryptococcal meningitis accounted for 60% (188 of 314) of all causes of meningitis. Of 117 samples sent for viral PCR, 36% were EBV positive. Among cryptococcal antigen negative patients, the yield of Xpert MTB/RIF assay was 22% (8 of 36). After exclusion of cryptococcosis and bacterial meningitis, 61% (43 of 71) with an abnormal CSF profile had no definitive diagnosis. Exploration of new TB diagnostics and diagnostic algorithms for evaluation of meningitis in resource-limited settings remains needed, and implementation of cryptococcal diagnostics is critical.
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PMID:Epidemiology of meningitis in an HIV-infected Ugandan cohort. 2538 64

Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) techniques for the detection of antibodies to the Venereal Disease Research Laboratories (VDRL) antigen as well as for the estimation of antibodies to cardiolipin (aCL) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were performed in several groups of patients, including those with definite paretic neurosyphilis (DPNS, 10 patients), probable paretic neurosyphilis (PPNS, 19 patients), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, 71 patients), and miscellaneous neurologic disorders (30 patients), and normal subjects (11 patients). In the DPNS group, all demonstrated positive VDRL by ELISA, and 7 also had positive aCL tests, whereas only 7 of the 10 had positive CSF fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption (FTA-ABS) and Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay (TPH A) tests. Three had positive VDRL tests by flocculation. In the PPNS group, no patients had positive FTA-ABS, TPH A, or VDRL flocculation tests in CSF. However, 18 of the 19 had positive CSF VDRL by ELISA; two of these also had positive aCL tests. Four SLE patients had positive CSF aCL tests (three with positive ELISA VDRL). Only one patient in the miscellaneous group had positive CSF aCL (Guillain-Barre syndrome), and one had positive IgM VDRL tests (bacterial meningitis). The value of VDRL ELISA in the diagnosis of neurosyphilis in the face of other negative conventional tests is established by our study and had important therapeutic consequences in patients with possible/probable neurosyphilis. The aCL test often may be positive in patients with DPNS but is less useful in the PPNS group.
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PMID:Anti-VDRL antibodies by ELISA in cerebrospinal fluid and its value in the differential diagnosis of abnormalities of the cerebrospinal fluid. 2648 30