Table 3 Demographic and clinical characteristics of viral, bacterial, and tubercular meningitis

Age, median (p25-p75)

31 (22–51)

50 (32–60)

50 (30–69)

0.048

Male sex

12 (63.2)

55 (75.3)

7 (53.9)

0.218

Place of residence, rural

7 (36.9)

50 (68.5)

10 (76.9)

0.022

Exposure to animal, pig

0 (0.0)

7 (9.6)

0 (0.0)

0.379

Immunocompromised state^a

1 (5.3)

10 (13.7)

4 (30.8)

0.146

Duration of fever at admission, ≥7 days

6 (31.6)

26 (35.6)

7 (53.9)

0.391

Headache

16 (84.2)

64 (87.7)

11 (84.6)

0.738

History of loss of consciousness

11 (57.9)

39 (53.4)

9 (69.2)

0.561

Neck stiffness

6 (31.6)

41(56.2)

6 (46.2)

0.153

 8 to 14

10 (55.6)

28 (39.4)

8 (61.5)

0.405

 <8

0 (0.0)

6 (8.5)

0 (0.0)

Abnormal CT/MRI brain (n=62)

9 (75.0)

22 (56.4)

4 (36.4)

0.201

HIV positive

1 (5.3)

1 (1.4)

2 (15.4)

0.049

 White blood cells (10⁹/L), median

13.0

13.8

7.8

0.038

 Neutrophil count (10⁹/L), median

8.8

11.6

6.8

0.035

 Raised liver enzymes (AST>40 or ALT>35 U/L) (n=101)

9 (47.4)

43 (62.3)

5 (38.5)

0.191

 Raised blood urea (>7.1 mmol/L) (n=103)

2 (10.5)

16 (22.5)

5 (38.5)

0.181

 Raised CRP (≥1 mg/dL) (n=95)

7 (43.8)

50 (74.6)

7 (58.3)

0.047

 Raised procalcitonin (≥0.5 ng/mL) (n=38)

3 (33.3)

16 (57.1)

0 (0.0)

0.269

 White blood cells (/μL), median

70

525

250

0.002

 Neutrophil count (/μL), median

33

297

175

0.003

 Protein (g/L), median

0.8

2.1

1.7

0.001

 CSF/blood glucose ratio, median

60.4

26.1

36.1

0.001

 ADA (IU/L), median (n=103)

3.2

14.3

13.0

0.001

 Complete recovery

6 (31.6)

16 (21.9)

0 (0.0)

0.001

 Referred to another hospital

4 (21.0)

16 (21.9)

11 (84.6)

 Incomplete recovery

8 (42.1)

30 (41.1)

1 (7.7)

 Not recovered-discharged to home

1 (5.3)

11 (15.0)

1 (7.7)

 Death at hospital

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)