TUBERCULOSIS MENINGITIS - RETROSPECTIVE S TUDY OF 11 YEARS (1983-1993) AT THE DEPARTMENT OF INFECTIOUS-DISEASES OF THE SANTA-MARIA-HOSPITAL, LISBON

The authors carried out the present study, fully aware of the importan ce of tuberculosis, especially on the light of present developments in the AIDS pandemia. They analysed the clinical cases of all patients w ith Tuberculosis Meningitis, admitted to the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon, during the period betw een 1(st) January 1983 and 31(st) December 1993, in a total of 64 pati ents, being 58 HIV- and 6 HIV+. They found males to be more affected. In spite of difficulties in diagnosis, 62% of the HIV- patients were d iagnosed ''ab initio'' as Tuberculosis Meningitis. They stress out the mortality rate of 5% of this study as one of the lowest they know and they considered that this good result depended mainly on the early di agnosis and treatment and on the patient level of conscience at the en try rather then the antituberculous drugs regimen used. The authors pr esumed that the bad results observed with the HIV+ patients are fundam entally conditionned by the immunodeficiency state of this patients.