TABLE 2.
Results of 284 CSF specimens with positive routine cultures
| Category and organism(s) isolated | No. of specimens
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Culture positive
|
With organisms seen on Gram stain | ||||
| Total | On broth and solid medium | On solid medium only | On broth only | ||
| Meningitis | |||||
| C. neoformans | 27 | 8 | 17 | 2 | 23 |
| S. pneumoniae | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| N. meningitidis | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Othersa | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | 40 | 21 | 17 | 2 | 35 |
| Shunt-associated meningitis | |||||
| Coagulase-negative staphylococci | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| E. cloacae | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Othersb | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Total | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| Adjacent pyogenic infections | |||||
| Streptococcus bovis | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| S. aureus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Escherichia coli | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sepsis without meningitis: totalc | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Contaminants | |||||
| Coagulase-negative staphylococci | 141 | 31 | 33 | 77 | 1 |
| Coryneforms | 23 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 0 |
| Alpha-hemolytic streptococci | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| S. aureus | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Acinetobacter sp. | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Enterococcus sp. | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Bacillus sp. | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Stenotrophomonas maltophilia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Pseudomonas sp. | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Othersd | 15 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 1 |
| Total | 220 | 43 | 56 | 121 | 2 |
| Grand total | 284 | 81 | 76 | 127 | 52 |
a
One instance each of Listeria monocytogenes, S. aureus, Morganella morganii, S. sanguis II, and S. bovis.
b
One or two instances each of S. aureus, Corynebacterium amycolatum, C. albicans, and Klebsiella pneumoniae.
c
One instance each of Cryptococcus, S. pneumoniae, N. meningitidis, and E. coli.
d
One or two instances each of Propionibacterium acnes, Micrococcus sp., C. albicans, Candida parapsilosis, F. oryzihabitans, Proteus mirabilis, Sphingomonas paucimobilis, and Curvularia sp.