875 Cases of bacterial meningitis: Diagnostic procedures and the impact of preadmission antibiotic therapy Part III of a three-part series

Data on the bacteriological findings, diagnostic measures and clinical course of 875 patients with bacterial meningitis are presented. Findings from the medical records and from a follow-up questionnaire survey of 667 of these cases revealed no significant difference between patients treated with antibiotics before admission (pretreated) and those who were not treated before admission (non-pretreated) with respect to clinical condition on admission, mortality and late sequelae. Pretreatment was, however, associated with a longer duration of symptoms.