Evaluation of a rapid reagent strip test for the diagnosis of childhood meningitis

stones of management of patients with meningitis. Determination of protein, glucose, cells and organisms in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) facilitates the differential diagnosis of meningitis. However, quantitative determinations of CSF protein and glucose are time-consuming and in many hospitals are performed only during regular working hours. Previous studies have suggested the clinical usefulness of ‘urine reagent strips’ in detecting abnormal protein and glucose levels and leukocyte counts in CSF.1–3 However, the data are still scarce in pediatric clinical situations. In the present study, we used urine reagent strips to measure protein, glucose and nitrite in CSF samples from children with suspected meningitis and compared the strip readings with quantitative determinations performed in the hospital laboratory. We also examined whether the reagent strip test can be used as a diagnostic marker for the differential diagnosis of childhood meningitis.