Table 2.

The abnormalities seen in the cerebrospinal fluid in patients with meningitis

Parameter	Normal	Acute bacterial	Viral	Tubercular
Opening pressure	<20 cm H2O	Increased	Normal/increased	Increased
Appearance	Clear	Cloudy, turbid, purulent	Clear	Clear/cloudy/yellow
Cells/mm3	<5/mm3	High—very high 1000–50 000	Normal—high	Increased 5–500
Cell differential	0 polymorphs	Neutrophils	Lymphocytes	Lymphocytes
Protein	<0.5 g/L	High>1 g/L	Normal—high 0.5–1 g/L	High—very high >1 g/L