Table 1 Patient characteristics and clinical presentation

Gender, males (%)

4 (40)

10 (40)

4 (67)

13 (31)

Age, years

43.5 (30, 72)

35 (28, 48)

52 (41, 68)

31 (22, 41)

Hospital stay, days

19 (11, 42)^b

3 (1.5, 5.5)^c

19 (14, 33)^{b, d}

2.0 (1.0, 4.0)

Immunodeficiency^e

2 (30)^b

1 (4)^c

1 (17)^b

–

Psychiatric disorder

2 (20)^b

2 (8)

–

–

Etiology known (%)^f

4/10 (40)

16/25 (64)

6/6 (100)

–

Headache (%)

7/10 (70)^b

24/25 (96)^c

3/4 (75)

39/41 (95)

Neck stiffness (%)^g

2/10 (20)

12/25 (48)

3/5 (60)

12/42 (29)

Objective fever (%)^h

7/10 (70)

17/25 (68)

5/6 (83)

20/42 (48)

Focal neurology (%)

5/9 (56)^b

2/19 (10)^c

1/6 (17)

1/24 (4)

GCS ≤ 14 (%)

10/10 (100)^b

2/25 (8)^c

5/6 (83)^b,d

6/42 (14)

CSF WBC (× 10⁶/L)

25 (9.5, 92)^b

179 (26, 271)^{b, c}

212 (91, 1434)^{b, c}

1.0 (1.0, 2.0)

CSF protein (g/L)

0.57 (0.4, 0.9)^b

0.59 (0.4, 0.8)^b

2.2 (0.8, 5.9)^{b, c, d}

0.26 (0.2, 0.3)

CSF glucose (mmol/L)

3.6 (3.3, 4.4)

3.5 (3.0, 3.7)

3.6 (0.4, 6.3)

3.5 (3.2, 3.7)

Glucose ratio

0.6 (0.5, 0.7)

0.6 (0.5, 0.6)^b

0.4 (0.1, 0.6)^b

0.6 (0.6, 0.7)

Albumin ratio

8.4 (6.5,14)^b

9.4 (6.1, 13)^b

79 (36, 137)^{b, c, d}

4.0 (2.6, 5.0)

Blood WBC (× 10⁹/L)

8.6 (7.4, 11)

8.2 (6.1, 11)

14 (8.5, 18)

10 (6.7, 12)

CRP, serum (mg/L)

6 (0.9, 86)

3.5 (1.3, 12)^b

169 (96, 446)^{b, c, d}

16 (2.1, 77)