Report of recovery from tuberculous meningitis is no longer met with the skepticism of only a few years ago; while the fact that patients sometimes recover is recognized, such recovery is extremely rare. Indeed, it is so rare in this disease that the question immediately arises, "Was the diagnosis correct"?
There are many cases in the literature on tuberculous meningitis in which recovery is reported. In 1909 Martin1 collected 20 cases; in 1913 Pitfield2 increased the number to 29; Cramer and Bichel3 collected 250 cases, but considered only 46 as authentic; in 1931, Kramer and Stein,4 in a review of the literature to date, selected 73 cases which they considered to be authentic. The tubercle bacillus was present in 47 of the 73 cases; it was not found in 16, and it was not mentioned in 10. Inoculation into guinea-pigs gave positive results in 30 cases, negative