C reactive protein for differentiating bacterial from aseptic meningitis in Thai patients.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of serum CRP level differentiating between bacterial and aseptic meningitis in Thai patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The authors measured the serum CRP level in patients who were diagnosed clinically as bacterial and aseptic meningitis. RESULTS: The authors evaluated 32 subjects, 12 with bacterial meningitis (all males) and 20 with aseptic meningitis (13 males, 7 females). The mean serum CRP level in the bacterial meningitis and aseptic meningitis group was 209.25 +/- 105.34 (range, 65 to 420) and 67.05 +/- 40.81 (range, 10 to 169) mg/L, respectively (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Serum CRP can help differentiate between bacterial and aseptic meningitis.