Sir.—In a recent article, Shattuck and Chonmaitree1 discussed 177 cases of neonatal meningitis. Their study included 28 infants with bacterial meningitis on day 1 of life. Of these infants, 15 (54%) had negative blood cultures. Since the practice of routine lumbar puncture in the assessment of a neo
Blood Cultures in Neonatal Meningitis No. of Patients With Positive Cerebrospinal Fluid Culture on Day of Life Blood Culture Results 1 2 3-7 ≥8 Negative (n=13) 2 2 5 4 Positive (n=13) 2 1 4 6 nate with possible sepsis has recently been questioned, particularly within 24 hours of birth, the authors advised that this practice not be abandoned.
In the report by Franco et al,2 published in the May 1992 issue of AJDC, 26 infants with bacterial meningitis were presented, of whom 13 (50%) did not have positive blood cultures. I am curious about how many of these