C-reactive protein in spinal fluid of children with meningitis.

We have evaluated a commercially available latex agglutination system for the detection of C-reactive protein in CSF by a prospective study of 56 patients with CSF pleocytosis. On initial lumbar puncture, C-RP was detected in 100% (24/24) of patients with culture-proven bacterial meningitis, compared to 6% (2/32) of patients in the nonbacterial group (chi 2 c = 44.8, P less than 0.0001). C-RP in CSF had a sensitivity of 1.0 and a specificity of 0.94 for detecting culture-positive, bacterial meningitis. It was a more sensitive test for differentiating bacterial from nonbacterial meningitis on initial CSF examination than was the number of CSF leukocytes, the absolute number of CSF polymorphonuclear leukocytes, CSF glucose concentration, CSF protein concentration, or Gram staining of CSF. Detection of C-RP by latex agglutination may prove to be a practical and reliable method for differentiating bacterial from nonbacterial meningitis.