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A diagnosis of bacterial meningitis requires isolation of the pathogen from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). However, cultures of CSF are usually insensitive, thus, in the majority of patients, the etiology is rarely determined. A total of 90 CSF samples from pediatric patients with clinical diagnosis of bacterial meningitis were evaluated by Dot-ELISA. This method was standardized in order to detect pneumococcal polysaccharide antigen in CSF samples previously treated with 0.1 M EDTA and dotted on nitrocellulose membrane strips. Pneumococcal omniserum diluted 1:200 was employed for pneumococcal antigen detection. Dot-ELISA showed relative indices of 100 and 90 per cent for sensitivity and specificity, respectively. This method is cheaper than counter immunoelectrophoresis for pneumococcal antigen detection.

A total of 1,094 Haemophilus influenzae isolates from cerebrospinal fluid were examined by biochemical and serological means. Most of them belonged to biotype I (70.9%) and to serotype b (99.4%). The relationship of biotypes I and II to the ages of the patients was shown to be significant (P < 0.001).

Capsular types of pneumococci from normally sterile body sites of 1,622 patients in Brazil were analyzed. Of 1,477 isolates from cerebrospinal fluid, 76.1% were of types represented in the currently available pneumococcal vaccine. The importance of age, time, and place in determining the optimal formulation of pneumococcal vaccine is considered.