Use of antimicrobial agents to treat central nervous system infection.

When dealing with infections of the central nervous system (CNS), the clinician is often faced with a daunting diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. The clinical presentation can vary from an insidious course that allows time for a full diagnostic examination to fulminant catastrophic events that require immediate therapeutic intervention. Fortunately, a thorough clinical evaluation combined with current laboratory and imaging techniques often allows for a prompt provisional diagnosis of infection. Clinical experience and scientific investigation have laid the basis for rational empiric antimicrobial therapy of CNS infection. The role of antibiotics in the treatment of CNS infections is reviewed and updated, emphasizing current rationale for empiric therapy as well as the proper use of specific antibiotics for specific pathogens.