Aseptic meningitis

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Central nervous system

Sterile meningitis

• Headache
• Fever
• Stiff neck
• General discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling (malaise)
• Sore throat
• Nausea and vomiting
• Drowsiness
• Abdominal pain
• Chills
• Rash
• Muscle pain
• Confusion
• Abnormal sensitivity to light (photophobia)

For any patient with meningitis, it is important to perform a lumbar puncture (spinal tap), where a sample of spinal fluid (known as cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF) is obtained and sent to the lab for testing.

Tests may reveal the following:

• High or low white blood cell count in the blood
• High white blood cell count in spinal fluid (usually lymphocytes, a type of white blood cells)

Bacterial cultures of spinal fluid do not grow any bacteria. Other cultures or other special tests of spinal fluid may detect viruses, or other forms of infection.

Review Date: 09/06/2006
Reviewed By: Hilary M. Babcock, M.D., Medical Director of Occupational Infection Control, Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's Hospitals; Instructor of Medicine, Infectious Disease Division, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.