Recovery from Otitic Pneumococcic Meningitis

Abstract

No attempt will be made in this report to review the extensive literature on pneumococcic meningitis. Suffice it to say that prior to the advent of chemotherapy there were no recoveries from this condition, in spite of desperate attempts to control the disease by early and complete operations on the mastoid, with extensive exposure of the dura and repeated or continuous drainage of the spinal fluid. Since the use of the sulfonamide drugs, especially in conjunction with the type-specific antipneumococcic serum, numerous recoveries have been reported.

CASE REPORTS

The first of these two cases was a typical Type III pneumococcic infection in the ear, with subsequent meningitis. The second case was a Type I pneumococcic meningitis which developed suddenly from an otitis media without mastoid involvement. Chemotherapy and the type-specific antipneumococcic serum were used in both cases. In the first case the mastoid was operated upon late in the treatment to prevent a recurrence. In the second case, surgery was unnecessary. Both patients recovered completely and have had no further complications.

Case 1: A white man, 62 years of age, was admitted to the hospital in August, 1938, in a semistuporous condition. Three months previously, in May, he had had an acute infection of the upper respiratory tract, with a temperature of 100 to 101° F., headache, and a right otalgia. A week after the onset there was a discharge from the right ear for about twenty-four hours. He gradually felt better and was able to d o some work,. . .