Doctors tend to prescribe steroids as a standard treatment, but new research shows that they need to think again.

Scientists studied 598 children with pyogenic (pus-producing) meningitis admitted to a hospital in Malawi; half were given the steroid dexamethasone and the rest a placebo. The overall number of deaths was the same in each group whether the children stayed in hospital or not (Lancet, 2002; 360: 211-8).