[Meningitis in adults in Geneva. Review of 257 cases]

We review the 257 patients hospitalized for meningitis in the Cantonal University Hospital, Geneva between 1st January 1980 and 31st December 1986. 104 patients had acute bacterial meningitis (32 Str. pneumoniae, 21 N. meningitidis, 10 Listeria monocytogenes, 8 streptococci, 5 H. influenzae, 5 staphylococci, 4 gram negative bacilli and 19 without identified bacteria), 124 patients had viral meningitis and 29 meningitis of other etiologies (6 tuberculous meningitis, 2 fungal meningitis, 1 leptospiral meningitis, 5 neoplastic meningitis--one already counted because of a meningitis due to Staph. epidermidis--2 meningitis consecutive to a meningeal irritation, 4 already treated meningitis of undetermined etiology, 2 chronic meningitis and 8 meningoencephalitis). The total mortality was 14.4%. It was zero in viral meningitis and 28% in bacterial meningitis (47% in cases of Str. pneumoniae, 5% in cases of N. meningitidis, 20% in cases of Listeria monocytogenes, 38% in cases of streptococci, 0% in cases of H. influenzae, 60% in cases of staphylococci, 50% in cases of gram negative bacilli, 16% in cases of unidentified bacteria). The striking difference in mortality emphasizes the importance of recognizing a bacterial etiology in order to institute antibiotic therapy as soon as possible. The delay between admission and lumbar puncture averaged 15 hours (range 0.25-96 h) in patients with acute bacterial meningitis and 6.3 hours (0.5-80 h) in patients with viral meningitis. The delay between admission and institution of the antibiotics averaged 5.3 hours (1-48 h) in cases of acute bacterial meningitis and 4.8 hours (0.5-48 h) in cases of viral meningitis. A better clinical workup may provide a reliable diagnosis sooner. In the collective with bacterial and viral meningitis headaches, fever or nuchal rigidity were present in over 80% of the cases. The following features were significantly associated with a bacterial etiology: age over 30 years, alcoholism, concomitant neoplasm, cough, coma, pulmonary rales, new neurological signs or petechia. At least one of these 4 latter signs was present in more than 70% of the cases with acute bacterial meningitis compared to 6% in cases of viral meningitis. Thus the clinical presentation alone serves to recognize the meningitis and to differentiate between a bacterial or viral etiology, thus permitting an immediate therapeutic decision without waiting for complementary investigations. The 104 patients with acute bacterial meningitis were treated with antibiotics: 60 with penicillin, 17 with ampicillin and 26 with other antibiotics; one case did not receive antibiotics. More than the half of the cases with viral meningitis have got antibiotics (52%).