Evaluate the diagnostic value of procalcitonin todifferentiate viral from bacterial meningitis in children admitted to the pediatric emergency

Meningitis is one of the important emergencies in pediatrics. Proper and timely treatment prevents high mortality and morbidity of bacterial meningitis. Given that only5% of meningitis are bacterial، finding a sensitive method to discriminate between the two types of meningitis is of clinical importance. In this study procalcitonin levels as a criterion for the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis and aseptic was studied. This was a case control cross sectional study in which 32 children with clinically suspected meningitis admitted to the hospital were studied. According to the clinical findings and results of CSF analysis، the patients were classified into two groups: bacterial meningitis and aseptic meningitis. For all cases CSF analysis & culture were done and procalcitonin،ESR، CRP & WBC were measured. Twenty healthy children were selected as control group and their procalcitonin and WBC was measured. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. The average age was 42. 6 months. There was no significant difference between two groups in terms of age، sex، ESR، CRP and CSF culture. Serum procalcitonin levels in control group were less than 0. 5ng/ml. 80% of bacterial meningitis and only one child (8. 33%) in aseptic meningitis had serum procalcitonin more than 2ng/ml. Serum procalcitonin level could be used as a useful diagnostic test with the cut of point 0. 5ng/ml differentiating healthy subjects from patients with meningitis. and Procalcitonin more than 2 ng / ml can be identified as Cut of Point diagnosis of bacterial meningitis.