Fungal meningitis differential diagnosis
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Rim Halaby; Prince Tano Djan, BSc, MBChB [2]
Overview
The differential diagnosis of fungal meningitis includes a range of medical conditions that can be broadly classified into infectious and non infectious. The cerebrospinal fluid analysis and radiological findings help distinguishing fungal meningitis from other etiologies.
Differential Diagnosis
- Meningeal infection
- Parameningeal infection
- Non infectious causes
- Behçet's syndrome
- Chronic benign lymphocytic meningitis
- Chemical meningitis
- Drug hypersensitivity
- Isolated granulomatous angiitis of the nervous system
- Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's)
- Malignancy
- Mollaret's meningitis
- Sarcoidosis
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
- Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome[1]
Differentiating fungal meningitis from other diseases
| Diseases | Diagnostic tests | Physical Examination | Symptoms | Past medical history | Other Findings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Na+, K+, Ca2+ | CT /MRI | CSF Findings | Gold standard test | Neck stiffness | Motor or Sensory deficit | Papilledema | Bulging fontanelle | Cranial nerves | Headache | Fever | Altered mental status | |||
| Brain tumour[2][3] | ✔ | Cancer cells[4] | MRI | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Cachexia, gradual progression of symptoms | ||||
| Delerium Tremens | ✔ | Clinical diagnosis | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Alcohal intake, sudden witdrawl or reduction in consumption | Tachycardia, diaphoresis, hypertension, tremors, mydriasis, positional nystagmus, tachypnea | ||||
| Subarachnoid hemorrhage[5] | ✔ | Xanthochromia[6] | CT scan without contrast[7][8] | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Trauma/fall | Confusion, dizziness, nausea, vomiting | |
| Stroke | ✔ | Normal | CT scan without contrast | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | TIAs, hypertension, diabetes mellitus | Speech difficulty, gait abnormality | ||||
| Neurosyphilis[9][10] | ✔ | ↑ Leukocytes and protein | CSF VDRL-specifc
CSF FTA-Ab -sensitive[11] |
✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Unprotected sexual intercourse, STIs | Blindness, confusion, depression,
Abnormal gait | |||
| Viral encephalitis | ✔ | Increased RBCS or xanthochromia, mononuclear lymphocytosis, high protein content, normal glucose | Clinical assesment | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Tick bite/mosquito bite/ viral prodome for several days | Extreme lethargy, rash hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, behavioural changes | ||
| Herpes simplex encephalitis | ✔ | Clinical assesment | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | History of hypertension | Delirium, cortical blindness, cerebral edema, seizure | |||||
| Wernicke’s encephalopathy | Normal | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | History of alcohal abuse | Ophthalmoplegia, confusion | ||||||||
| CNS abscess | ✔ | ↑ leukocytes >100,000/ul, ↓ glucose and ↑ protien, ↑ red blood cells, lactic acid >500mg | Contrast enhanced MRI is more sensitive and specific,
Histopathological examination of brain tissue |
✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | History of drug abuse, endocarditis, ↓ immune status | High grade fever, fatigue,nausea, vomiting | ||
| Drug toxicity | ✔ | ✔ | Lithium, Sedatives, phenytoin, carbamazepine | |||||||||||
| Conversion disorder | Diagnosis of exclusion | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Tremors, blindness, difficulty swallowing | |||||||
| Electrolyte disturbance | ↓ or ↑ | Depends on the cause | ✔ | ✔ | Confusion, seizures | |||||||||
| Febrile seizures | Not performed in first simple febrile seizures | Clinical diagnosis and EEG | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Family history of febrile seizures, viral illness or gastroenteritis | Age > 1 month, | ||||||
| Subdural empyema | ✔ | Clinical assesment and MRI | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | History of relapses and remissions | Blurry vision, urinary incontinence, fatigue | ||||
| Hypoglycemia | ↓ or ↑ | Serum blood glucose | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | History of diabetes | Palpitations, sweating, dizziness, low serum, glucose | |||||||
Differentiating fungal meningitis from other causes of meningitis
Fungal meningitis may be differentiated from other causes of meningitis by cerebrospinal fluid examination:[12][13][14][15][16]
| Cerebrospinal fluid level | Normal level | Bacterial meningitis[15] | Viral meningitis[15] | Fungal meningitis | Tuberculous meningitis[17] | Malignant meningitis[12] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cells/ul | < 5 | >300 | 10-1000 | 10-500 | 50-500 | >4 |
| Cells | Lymphos:Monos 7:3 | Gran. > Lymph | Lymph. > Gran. | Lympho.>Gran | Lymphocytes | Lymphocytes |
| Total protein (mg/dl) | 45-60 | Typically 100-500 | Normal or slightly high | High | Typically 100-200 | >50 |
| Glucose ratio (CSF/plasma)[13] | > 0.5 | < 0.3 | > 0.6 | <0.3 | < 0.5 | <0.5 |
| Lactate (mmols/l)[14] | < 2.1 | > 2.1 | < 2.1 | >3.2 | > 2.1 | >2.1 |
| Others | ICP:6-12 (cm H2O) | CSF gram stain, CSF culture, CSF bacterial antigen | PCR of HSV-DNA, VZV | CSF gram stain, CSF india ink | PCR of TBC-DNA | CSF tumour markers such as alpha fetoproteins, CEA |
References
- ↑ Koroshetz WJ. Chapter 382. Chronic and Recurrent Meningitis. In: Longo DL, Fauci AS, Kasper DL, Hauser SL, Jameson JL, Loscalzo J, eds. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 18th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2012.
- ↑ Soffer D (1976) Brain tumors simulating purulent meningitis. Eur Neurol 14 (3):192-7. PMID: 1278192
- ↑
- ↑ Weston CL, Glantz MJ, Connor JR (2011). "Detection of cancer cells in the cerebrospinal fluid: current methods and future directions". Fluids Barriers CNS. 8 (1): 14. doi:10.1186/2045-8118-8-14. PMC 3059292. PMID 21371327.
- ↑ Yeh ST, Lee WJ, Lin HJ, Chen CY, Te AL, Lin HJ (2003) Nonaneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage secondary to tuberculous meningitis: report of two cases. J Emerg Med 25 (3):265-70. PMID: 14585453
- ↑ Lee MC, Heaney LM, Jacobson RL, Klassen AC (1975). "Cerebrospinal fluid in cerebral hemorrhage and infarction". Stroke. 6 (6): 638–41. PMID 1198628.
- ↑ Birenbaum D, Bancroft LW, Felsberg GJ (2011). "Imaging in acute stroke". West J Emerg Med. 12 (1): 67–76. PMC 3088377. PMID 21694755.
- ↑ DeLaPaz RL, Wippold FJ, Cornelius RS, Amin-Hanjani S, Angtuaco EJ, Broderick DF; et al. (2011). "ACR Appropriateness Criteria® on cerebrovascular disease". J Am Coll Radiol. 8 (8): 532–8. doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2011.05.010. PMID 21807345.
- ↑ Liu LL, Zheng WH, Tong ML, Liu GL, Zhang HL, Fu ZG; et al. (2012). "Ischemic stroke as a primary symptom of neurosyphilis among HIV-negative emergency patients". J Neurol Sci. 317 (1–2): 35–9. doi:10.1016/j.jns.2012.03.003. PMID 22482824.
- ↑ Berger JR, Dean D (2014). "Neurosyphilis". Handb Clin Neurol. 121: 1461–72. doi:10.1016/B978-0-7020-4088-7.00098-5. PMID 24365430.
- ↑ Ho EL, Marra CM (2012). "Treponemal tests for neurosyphilis--less accurate than what we thought?". Sex Transm Dis. 39 (4): 298–9. doi:10.1097/OLQ.0b013e31824ee574. PMC 3746559. PMID 22421697.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Le Rhun E, Taillibert S, Chamberlain MC (2013). "Carcinomatous meningitis: Leptomeningeal metastases in solid tumors". Surg Neurol Int. 4 (Suppl 4): S265–88. doi:10.4103/2152-7806.111304. PMC 3656567. PMID 23717798.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chow E, Troy SB (2014). "The differential diagnosis of hypoglycorrhachia in adult patients". Am J Med Sci. 348 (3): 186–90. doi:10.1097/MAJ.0000000000000217. PMC 4065645. PMID 24326618.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Leen WG, Willemsen MA, Wevers RA, Verbeek MM (2012). "Cerebrospinal fluid glucose and lactate: age-specific reference values and implications for clinical practice". PLoS One. 7 (8): e42745. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042745. PMC 3412827. PMID 22880096.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Negrini B, Kelleher KJ, Wald ER (2000). "Cerebrospinal fluid findings in aseptic versus bacterial meningitis". Pediatrics. 105 (2): 316–9. PMID 10654948.
- ↑ Brouwer MC, Tunkel AR, van de Beek D (2010). "Epidemiology, diagnosis, and antimicrobial treatment of acute bacterial meningitis". Clin Microbiol Rev. 23 (3): 467–92. doi:10.1128/CMR.00070-09. PMC 2901656. PMID 20610819.
- ↑ Caudie C, Tholance Y, Quadrio I, Peysson S (2010). "[Contribution of CSF analysis to diagnosis and follow-up of tuberculous meningitis]". Ann Biol Clin (Paris). 68 (1): 107–11. doi:10.1684/abc.2010.0407. PMID 20146981.