Abstract
Summary
A model of experimental pneumococcal meningitis in rabbits is described. Animals were infected by intravenous inoculation of 107 cfu of type III pneumococci immediately after withdrawal of 0.5 ml of CSF from the basal cistern. Pneumococcal meningitis, defined as CSF pleocytosis, positive cultures of the CSF, and clinical findings indicative of CNS infection 24 hr after inoculation, occurred in 54.5% of rabbits infected in this way. A higher proportion of animals, 83.9% developed meningitis if 0.5 ml of a 0.125% suspension of sterile mucin was injected into the cistern at the time of the initial tap (P = 0.025,×2). All but 2 of 54 animals with meningitis died spontaneously; the duration of survival of animals which did not receive mucin was 64.0 ± 20.8 hr (mean ± S.D.) while the animals receiving mucin survived 80.2 ± 20.1 hr (P < .001, t test). Mucin did not otherwise alter the clinical course of animals with meningitis, and the CNS pathology was indistinguishable within the two groups, and gross and microscopic findings were similar to those of human infection.
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