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Aseptic meningitis - Symptom

Alternative Names

Sterile meningitis

Symptoms:

Abdominal pain
Abnormal sensitivity to light (photophobia)
Chills
Confusion
Drowsiness
Fever
General discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling (malaise)
Headache
Muscle pain
Nausea and vomiting
Rash
Sore throat
Stiff neck

Signs and tests:

For any patient with meningitis, it is important to perform a lumbar puncture ("spinal tap"), in which a sample of spinal fluid (known as cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF) is taken for testing.

Tests may include:

Bacterial cultures of spinal fluid
Other cultures or special tests of spinal fluid
White blood cell count
White blood cell count in spinal fluid

Central nervous system

Reviewed last on: 9/28/2008
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Swartz MN. Meningitis: bacterial, viral, and other. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsever; 2007: chap 437.

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