In order to treat and predict bacterial meningitis, its diagnosis is essential. A delay in diagnosis can have very serious consequences. The tests for the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis lack sensitivity and specificity, which is why they have started looking for other biomarkers.

Currently, lactate is considered a good biomarker that helps differentiate bacterial from aseptic meningitis. Its concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid depends on its rate of production in the brain, and is independent of serum lactate, and therefore is a valid indicator of cerebral metabolism.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of lactate in cerebrospinal fluid as a biomarker of bacterial meningitis in patients treated in a Colombian hospital in 2014. 

This retrospective cross-sectional study evaluated the samples of 103 patients, who were asked for: lactate, cytochemical and bacterial culture in cerebrospinal fluid.

To explore the correlation of lactate values with the erythrocyte count in cerebrospinal fluid, the Spearman correlation coefficient was used. In all the analysis, statistical significance was considered with p <0.05.

In conclusion, Celis-Galeano et al. confirm that cerebrospinal fluid lactate can be a rapid, sensitive and specific biomarker to distinguish between bacterial and non-bacterial meningitis, and could be part of the routine biochemical profile of the cerebrospinal fluid study when bacterial meningitis is suspected.

This study, written by Aleida Celis-Galeano, Sigifredo Ospina-Ospina y Gabriela Becerra-Argote with the original title Utilidad del lactato en líquido cefalorraquídeo como biomarcador de meningitis bacteriana, was published in 2017 in the journal Revista de la Asociación Colombiana de Infectología (Infectio) (A. Celis-Galeano, et al. Utilidad del lactato en líquido cefalorraquídeo como biomarcador de meningitis bacteriana. Infectio 2018; 22(2): 64-69)

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