TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS

Abstract

Treatment of tuberculous meningitis with streptomycin has so far achieved only a limited success. During the first nine months of 1949 in England and Wales there were 876 deaths from this disease, while in the United States results in most centers seem to have begotten the feeling that newer methods of chemotherapy must be sought. We hope to show that these conclusions are premature, first by describing our results at Oxford of treatment with streptomycin alone and second by referring briefly to the effects of supplementing this treatment with intrathecal injections of tuberculin. <h3>METHODS OF TREATMENT AND RESULTS</h3> Since November 1946 we have treated 93 patients with tuberculous meningitis (table 1), in all but 1 instance bacteriologically verified. As soon as sufficient streptomycin was available the patients werecompletely unselected; the majority were confused, stuporous or even comatose when treatment was begun. In the first 60 of these patients who