Antimicrobial Agents for Bacterial Meningitis

Abstract

I was a little disturbed by a sentence in the otherwise informative article, "Bacterial Meningitis: A Symposium," by Smith et al. (Pediatrics, 32:586, 1973). In part 5 on the treatment of bacterial meningitis, it is mentioned that ampicillin is the current agent of choice in bacterial meningitis. This might leave the false impression that ampicillin is the agent of choice for the entire treatment course when in fact this is probably incorrect. Ampicillin appears to be the initial agent of choice pending results of culture and sensitivity and may be the agent of choice in Hemophilus influenzae meningitis.