[Bacterial meningitis in the aged. Pitfalls in medicine]

Bacterial meningitis in aged patients is a diagnosis that can be difficult to make. Three case-histories, one of them being diagnosed non-purulent bacterial meningitis, are presented to demonstrate this. If classic symptoms and signs are being absent, evidence of an infection should suggest meningitis, if other common infections, like urinary tract or respiratory infections, are excluded, and even in these cases a concomitant meningitis may be possible. Even then a high mortality should be taken into account. Only tenacity at diagnostics will be able to reduce this.