Table 1.

Diagnostic Criteria for External Ventricular Drain-Associated Ventriculomeningitis

Considerations	IDSA2	CDC37	Lozier§19	Mounier82	Gozal§83	Honda84
Fever*	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Clinical meningitis symptoms and signs #	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Suggestive CSF profile	Yes	No/yes¶	Yes	No	Yes##	Yes¶¶
CSF culture required for diagnosis	Yes	Yes/no¶	Yes (or Gram stain)	Yes**	Yes	Yes
Quantity of microorganism growth required	Any	Any	Any	Any	Any	Any
Aseptic meningitis excluded	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Antibiotic pretreatment considered	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Antimicrobials targeting CNS	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Time required after EVD insertion	No	No	No	No	No	>48-hours
Interval from catheter removal for a valid diagnosis	No	No	No	No	Up to 72 hours	Up to 5 days

Note: *May represent other focus of infection. ^#Can be absent due to severity of the primary disease. ^¶By the criterion 1 of the definition/by the criterion 2. ^§Definitions of ventriculitis. **Two CSF samples necessary for skin flora microorganisms. ^##CSF glucose <50mg/dL or CSF glucose to same-day serum glucose ratio < 50%. ^¶¶Required only to consider skin flora.

Abbreviations: CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention; CNS, central nervous system; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; EVD, external ventricular drain; IDSA, Infectious Diseases Society of America.