Procalcitonin, a new marker of bacterial meningitis in childhood

Procalcitonin (PCT) is a new marker connected to systemic bacterial infection. Blood values are parallel to the severity of the disease. In the present Knowledge on PCT, the usefulness is focused on acute pediatric pathology, ICU and the follow up of grafts and surgery. This paper dwells on the interest in the differential diagnosis for meningitis (viral versus bacterial). At the opposite of CRP and IL6, a very clear cutt of for all the cases has been found. The cutt off in this study is about 2-3 mu g/l. PCT at the difference of cytokines is a very stable molecule in the blood sample. Also a very small quantity of serum (or plasma) 20 mu l is sufficient for one assay. In the future, a point of care assay will be available and should be very interesting in the emergency wards (pediatric or adult ICU). The origin of PCT seems to be - but perhaps not exclusively - mononuclear cells The absence of an animal model (except monkeys) is actually a difficulty to progress.