cerebrospinal fluid in bacterial meningitis
Last reviewed 06/2021
Features include:
- pressure is often raised
- appearance can be cloudy and may be purulent
- the predominant cells are polymorphs, sometimes more than 1000 per square mm
- glucose is less than 40% plasma
- protein is 1 to 5 g per litre
- organisms may be seen in smear, gram stain and culture