C-reactive protein test helps diagnose meningitis:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Doctors can use a test for C-reactive protein to help diagnose bacterial meningitis and thus avoid the unnecessary use of antibiotics in children with the viral form of the disease, paediatricians in Finland have found. Measuring serum levels of C-reactive protein enables doctors to distinguish Gram-negative bacterial meningitis from viral meningitis in children over three months of age with 96% sensitivity and 93% specificity, Dr Paivi Sormen and colleagues at Helsinki University Central Hospital report in the June issue of the Journal of Paediatrics.