MENINGITIS DUE TO THE TYPE IV PNEUMOCOCCUS, WITH RECOVERY: REPORT OF A CASE

Abstract

In 1935 Tripoli¹made a study of the therapeutic procedures for bacterial meningitis at the New Orleans Charity Hospital. In the previous ten years there were 111 cases of pneumococcic meningitis, in which treatment had been given by almost every known method. Of the 111 patients 110 died. The sole survivor had been treated with antimeningococcus serum by substitution. In a survey of the literature for the past fifteen years I was able to find some 30 other cases in which recovery followed various procedures. Though each author stanchly advocates his own method, one has the feeling that the 30 cases when compared with the thousands of deaths from pneumococcic meningitis would give an average similar to the statistics of Tripoli, the only procedure showing any consistent results being the use of specific serum in cases in which the condition is amenable to it. It has been our experience with