The ameliorating effect of lumbar puncture in viral meningitis
M. Jaffe, I. Srugo, E. Tirosh, A. A. Colin and Y. Tal
Department of Pediatrics, Haifa Medical Center, Israel.
To test the hypothesis that lumbar puncture in viral meningitis results in
symptomatic improvement, a group of 48 children was studied. Twenty-six
patients had proved aseptic meningitis, and 22 had infections outside the
central nervous system. Before and after lumbar puncture each subject was
repeatedly scored for symptoms independently by the attending pediatrician
and a parent. Marked symptomatic improvement in children with meningitis
was demonstrated following lumbar puncture, while no significant change was
demonstrated in the control group. The mechanism underlying this
improvement is not clear; however, we consider a number of possible
explanations.
