BACKGROUND Acute infections of the nervous system are generally widespread and cause significant problems in the field medicine and therefore early detection, right decision making, and early initiation of therapy can be lifesaving. Meningitis is the inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. It is a general clinical problem during infancy and childhood. Delay in differentiating between bacterial, tubercular & viral meningitis and institution of its treatment may have irreparable consequences that lead to significant morbidity & mortality. The present study was conducted to find out the utility of cerebrospinal fluid-adenosine deaminase (CSF-ADA) for the early diagnosis & differentiation of tubercular & viral meningitis in adults. METHODS 50 meningitis patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected. Investigations including complete haemogram, liver function test (LFT), renal function test (RFT), random blood sugar (RBS), serum electrolytes, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) test, chest x-ray and computed tomography (CT) brain (plain) were done. CSF cytology, biochemistry, gram stain, acid-fast bacteria (AFB) stain & culture were done. These cases were further divided in to two groups based on clinical and CSF laboratory findings as group I: tubercular meningitis, group II: viral meningitis. An estimation of CSF-ADA was done in all patients. RESULTS The mean age of the 50 patients studied was 37.76 + 15.58 years, with the maximum number of patients suffering from tubercular meningitis. The incidence of meningitis was more in males. CSF-adenosine deaminase activity was found to be higher in tubercular meningitis, the mean value was 17.67 ± 8.13 IU / L. CONCLUSIONS Assessment of CSF-ADA will be helpful for early diagnosis and differentiation of tubercular and viral meningitis. This is needed when gold standard investigations for meningitis like smear and / or culture for acid fast bacilli are not available or negative or are time consuming. KEY WORDS CSF-Cerebrospinal Fluid, ADA-Adenosine Deaminase, AFB-Acid Fast Bacilli.
Evaluation of adenosine deaminase activity and antibody to Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen 5 in cerebrospinal fluid and the radioactive bromide partition test for the early diagnosis of tuberculosis meningitis.
