A NEW SIGN OF THE LOWER EXTREMITIES IN MENINGITIS OF CHILDREN (Neck Sign)

Abstract

In my work entitled Contralateral Reflexes in the Lower Limbs of Children , I have drawn attention to a sign that appears in tuberculous and epidemic meningitis, among other conditions. It concerns the corresponding reflex movement of a lower limb when one passively flexes the opposite lower limb (the identical contralateral reflex). Sometimes a lower limb first placed in flexion makes a reflex movement of extension after the passive flexion of the other limb (the reciprocal contralateral reflex). In the eight cases of tuberculous meningitis observed at that time, I noted the identical contralateral reflex six times and the reciprocal contralateral reflex once. In one case, I could find neither of these reflexes. In the two cases of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis seen at that time, the identical contralateral reflex appeared very clearly in both lower limbs. In that work I stated that the sign described by me can be