Meningitis - tuberculous

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Central nervous system

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Meningitis - tuberculous

Alternative Names:

Tubercular meningitis; TB meningitis

Symptoms:

Seizures
Fever
Listlessness
Loss of appetite
Severe headache
Nausea and vomiting
Stiff neck
Sensitivity to light (photophobia)
Loss of consciousness

Signs and tests:

For any patient with meningitis, it is important to perform a lumbar puncture (spinal tap), where a needle is inserted into the back of the patient and spinal fluid (known as cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF) is sampled. The following tests help diagnose tuberculous meningitis:

Spinal fluid (CSF) stain positive for mycobacterium
CSF with high protein, low glucose and increased lymphocytes
CSF culture growing M. tuberculosis
CSF positive for M. tuberculosis PCR
Positive skin test for tuberculosis
Brain or meningeal biopsy showing M. tuberculosis

Review Date: 7/14/2004
Reviewed By: Daniel Levy, M.D., Ph.D., Infectious Diseases, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Baltimore, MD. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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