Febrile infants and lumbar punctures: unraveling the evidence

Scarfone et al published a retrospective study that identified the incidence of bacterial meningitis in 1188 febrile infants aged 29-56 days of age undergoing sepsis screening.1 A secondary outcome was to determine whether those infants with bacterial meningitis met "low-risk" criteria. Forty (3.4%) infants had "contaminant" cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures. One infant (0.08%) was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis with positive CSF culture. Analysis of 401 infants showed that 45.6% met low-risk criteria.

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