REPORT OF A CASE OF ANAPHYLACTIC SHOCK, WITH FAILURE TO DESENSITIZE BY INTRASPINAL ADMINISTRATION OF SERUM

Abstract

This case of anaphylactic shock in cerebrospinal meningitis is reported in order to record the failure of serum administered intraspinally to desensitize the patient to its intravenous administration. The patient, a woman, aged 40, first seen by me one week after the onset of her illness, had had severe headache, with moderate temperature, at first declining and then rising, on the day when first seen, April 13. No focal meningeal symptoms had been observed. On the date of admission, April 13, her temperature was 104, pulse 90, and respiration 20. Physical examination revealed only a moderately rigid neck, absent patellar reflexes, and positive Babinski and Oppenheim reflexes on the right side. Kernig's sign was present. Lumbar puncture at 5 p. m. on the same day revealed a spinal fluid under pressure, moderately turbid, containing 810 cells per cubic millimeter, a + + + butyric acid test, and the intracellular and extracellular presence of