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Meningitis is the main infectious central nervous system (CNS) syndrome. Viruses or bacteria can cause acute meningitis of infectious etiology. The term "Aseptic Meningitis" denotes a clinical syndrome with a predominance of lymphocytes in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), with no common bacterial agents identified in the CSF. Viral meningitis is considered the main cause of lymphocyte meningitis. There are other etiologies of an infectious nature. CSF examination is essential to establish the diagnosis and to identify the etiological agent of lymphocytic meningitis. We examined CSF characteristics and the differential diagnosis of the main types of meningitis.

Here we describe a novel immunogenic method to detect COVID-19. The method is a chromogenic magnetic bead-based ELISA which allows inexpensive and quantitative detection of human IgG or IgM antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in serum or whole blood samples in just 12 minutes. As a proof of concept, we compared the performance of our new method to classical ELISA. Person correlation between optical densities obtained using the two methods was 0.98. The novel magnetic bead-based ELISA performed better than classic ELISA to discriminate one COVID-19 case carrying low antibody titer. The chromogenic magnetic bead-based ELISA method described here can be applied in formats for both point of care and high throughput analysis. The method is readily adaptable to use other protein-based antigens and is readily adaptable to investigate other diseases and other applications.

Background: This study aimed to calculate the seroconversion rate of the CoronaVac vaccine in healthcare workers (HCWs) 40 days after administration. Methods: Serum samples from 133 HCWs from Southern Brazil were collected one day before (Day 0) and 10, 20, and 40 days after administering the vaccines first dose. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) was quantified using immunoassays for anti-N-protein antibodies (Abbott, Sligo, Ireland) and for anti-S1 (spike) protein antibodies (Euroimmun, Lubeck, Germany). Results: Seroconversion by D 40 (20 days after the second dose) occurred in 129 (97%) HCWs for the S1 protein, and in 69 (51.87%) HCWs for the N protein. An absence of IgG antibodies (by both methodologies), occurred in two (1.5%) HCWs undergoing semiannual rituximab administration, and also in another two (1.5%) HCWs with no apparent reason. Conclusion: This study showed that CoronaVac has a high seroconversion rate when evaluated in an HCW population.