Clinically useful or important clues to the cause of chronic meningitis

Clue	Diagnosis
Positive tuberculin skin test or interferon-gamma release assay	Tuberculosis
Residence or travel to the southwestern United States, southern California, or Mexico	Coccidioidomycosis
Hypothalamic, optic, or pituitary lesions on cranial imaging	Sarcoidosis
Uveitis/iritis	Sarcoidosis, Behçet's disease, Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome
Radiculopathy and/or cranial nerve palsies	Lyme disease
Prior residence in Mexico, Central or South America, India, sub-Saharan Africa, or the Caribbean	Cysticercosis
Exposure to unpasteurized milk or contact with cows, goats, swine, or sheep (including butchering or working in a packing house)	Brucellosis
Peripheral 7th nerve paralysis	Sarcoidosis
Diabetes insipidus	Sarcoidosis
Poliosis (whitening of the eyebrows and eyelashes and vitiligo)	Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome
Recurrent genital or oral ulcerations	Behçet's disease
A preexisting immunosuppressive condition or therapy	Cryptococcosis, tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis, endemic mycoses
Predominately neutrophilic CSF pleocytosis	Nocardiosis, actinomycosis, aspergillosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, chemical or drug-induced meningitis
Eosinophilic CSF pleocytosis	Coccidioidomycosis, lymphoma, Angiostrongylus, cysticercosis, schistosomiasis
Hypogammaglobulinemia	Enterovirus

CSF: cerebrospinal fluid.

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