Table 1 Baselines characteristics of participants

CNS infection (n)

 Bacterial infection

95

–

–

 Viral infection

38

–

–

 Parasitic infection

3

–

–

 Fungal infection

10

–

–

 Mixed infection^a

4

–

–

 Unclassified

9

–

–

Non-CNS infection(n)

 Autoimmune encephalitis

–

13

–

 Malignant tumor

–

13

–

 Pulmonary diseases

–

6

–

 Tsutsugamushi disease

–

1

–

 Local infection

–

7

–

 Blood-stream infection

–

1

–

 Hematological disease

–

3

–

 Rheumatic disease

–

2

–

 Psychological disease

–

1

–

 Fever of unknown origin

–

7

–

 Other neurological disease^b

–

17

–

Gender(n)

0.791

 Male

97

42

 Female

62

29

Age, year (range)

44.39 (13.00–73.00)

42.30 (15.00–84.00)

0.175

Body temperature, °C (Range)

37.61 (36.20–40.70)

37.47 (36.10–39.60)

0.695

Empirical treatment history(n)

0.103

 Yes

119

60

 No

40

11

Blood laboratory examination (range)

 C-reaction protein, mg/L

19.6 (3.0–126.0)

32.8 (3.0–194.0)

0.568

 Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, mm/h

25.20 (2.00–137.00)

26.07 (2.00–118.00)

0.830

 Procalcitonin, ng/mL

0.34 (0.01–4.90)

0.19 (0.02–1.82)

0.386

 Serum ferritin, ng/mL

631.84 (14.46–2000.00)

560.26 (64.92–1209.00)

0.802

 WBC, *10⁹/L

8.84 (2.35–26.03)

9.06 (2.87–27.60)

0.347

 Neutrophil, %

69.26 (26.00–95.70)

79.11 (60.4–97.30)

0.427