The Treatment of Influenzal Meningitis

Meningitis due to Hemophilus influenzae is a not uncommon disease of infancy and early childhood. Both sulfonamides and specific rabbit antiserum have been used widely and with considerable success in the treatment of this infection for about five years. It seems appropriate at this time to sum up results obtained with the present treatment in order to facilitate the evaluation of new antibiotic substances when those effective against H. influenzae become generally available for clinical trial. In 1922 Rivers,¹in a review of the literature on influenzal meningitis, pointed out that the mortality rate in 200 reported cases was 92 per cent, or, in reality, even higher, since many cases are overlooked or not reported. He furthermore called attention to the fact that 12 of 17 patients who recovered were 2 years of age or older. Wilkes-Weiss and Huntington²in 1936 reviewed 500 cases and found a mortality