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Migraine-like headache in bacterial meningitis

C Lampl1, K Yazdi, A Buzath

  • 1Department of Neurology, Psychiatry and Pain Clinic, General Hospital Linz, Austria. christian.lampl@akh.linz.at

Cephalalgia : an International Journal of Headache
|February 13, 2001
PubMed

Insights

Sumatriptan did not alleviate severe headaches in two bacterial meningitis patients. This suggests sumatriptan is ineffective for meningitis-related headaches, despite their migraine-like features.

Area of Science:

  • Neurology
  • Infectious Diseases

Background:

  • Headache is a common symptom of meningitis.
  • Migraine-like headaches can occur in patients with meningitis.
  • The efficacy of sumatriptan in treating meningitis headaches is unknown.

Observation:

  • Two patients with severe bacterial meningitis presented with migraine-like headaches.
  • Sumatriptan (6 mg s.c.) was administered to assess its effect on headache intensity.
  • Neither patient experienced improvement in headache intensity after sumatriptan administration.

Findings:

  • Sumatriptan demonstrated a lack of efficacy in treating the headache associated with bacterial meningitis.
  • The migraine-like headache characteristics of meningitis did not predict a positive response to sumatriptan.

Implications:

  • Sumatriptan is unlikely to be an effective treatment for headaches in patients with bacterial meningitis.
  • Further research is needed to understand the pathophysiology of meningitis headaches and identify effective treatments.

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