ArticleJournal of medical virology2023
The impact of cerebrospinal fluid viral polymerase chain reaction testing on the management of adults with viral meningitis: A multi-center retrospective study.
Article in Journal of medical virology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ventriculitis: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Clinical Features, Outcomes and Device Management Practices.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Clinical characteristics and treatment of varicella zoster virus central nervous system infection in an Australian tertiary hospital.Internal medicine journal · 2025Article
- Molecular diagnostic methods for rapid diagnosis of central nervous system infections.Frontiers in medical technology · 2025Review
- The impact of cerebrospinal fluid viral polymerase chain reaction testing on the management of adults with viral meningitis: A multi-center retrospective study.Journal of medical virology · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of viral polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in patients with aseptic meningitis and identify opportunities for improvement in clinical management. All cerebrospinal fluid samples collected in 1 year from four teaching hospitals in Sydney, Australia, were reviewed. Patients with aseptic meningitis were selected, and clinical and diagnostic features, hospital length of stay (LOS), and treatment were analyzed. Identifying a cause by viral PCR did not reduce hospital LOS (median 3 days) or antibiotic use (median 2 days), but the turnaround time of the PCR test correlated with LOS (Rs = 0.3822, p = 0.0003). Forty-one percent of patients received intravenous acyclovir treatment, which was more frequent in patients admitted under neurologists than infectious diseases physicians (56% vs. 24%; p = 0.013). The majority of patients did not have investigations for alternative causes of aseptic meningitis such as human immunodeficiency virus and syphilis if the viral PCR panel was negative. The benefit of PCR testing in aseptic meningitis in adults in reducing LOS and antibiotic use is unclear. The reasons for unnecessary aciclovir use in meningitis syndromes require further assessment.
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