Cerebrospinal fluid lactate results are rapidly available to the clinician. When interpreted against the adult reference interval derived in this study, results can help to triage patients presenting with symptoms of meningitis.

Following the screening of urine samples for a panel of drugs over a period of 1 year, a peak was observed during December 1999 and January 2000 in the numbers of samples testing positive for both morphine and barbiturates. This increase may be due to the adulteration of street heroin with barbiturate during this period.

No abstract