Should intracranial pressure reach unsafe levels, the patient may need to have cerebrospinal fluid drained. Implanted external ventricular drains are one of the more common ways to manage and monitor the intracranial pressure, however there are several risks involved with such an invasive procedure, including the risk of further infection. There is a great deal of research focused around prevention of ventriculitis. It is crucial that any procedure involving exposing the brain is performed with the utmost care, as infections in the brain are very dangerous and potentially deadly. When patients undergo such procedures, they are often monitored closely over the next several days to ensure that there were no infections and any instance of even a small headache is treated very seriously. It is also necessary to monitor the intracranial pressure of the patients often enough to observe significant changes that could indicate the presence of and infection and ensuing ventriculitis. It is important not to measure the pressure too often, however, as it could in fact lead to infection. Current research
Due to the poor definition of the condition that is ventriculitis, there is still a great deal that is not known about this dangerous condition. While other, similar conditions, such as meningitis or encephalitis, have been thoroughly researched, ventriculitis is a very loose grouping of conditions characterized by the fact that the lining of the ventricles is inflamed. Because no solid definition has been accepted across the medical community, research in the subject has been slow to progress.
In people in whom the infection worsens into sepsis, typically following ingestion, the mortality rate rises to 50%. The majority of these people die within the first 48 hours of infection. The optimal treatment is not known, but in one retrospective study of 93 people in Taiwan, use of a third-generation cephalosporin and a tetracycline (e.g., ceftriaxone and doxycycline, respectively) was associated with an improved outcome. Prospective clinical trials are needed to confirm this finding, but in vitro data support the supposition that this combination is synergistic against V. vulnificus. Likewise, the American Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  (CDC) recommend treating the person with a quinolone or intravenous doxycycline with ceftazidime. The first successful documented treatment of fulminant V. vulnificus sepsis was in 1995. Treatment was ceftazidime and intravenous (IV) ciprofloxacin and IV doxycycline, which proved successful. Prevention of secondary infections from respiratory failure and acute renal failure is crucial. Key to the diagnosis and treatment were the early recognition of bullae in an immunocompromised person with liver cirrhosis and oyster ingestion within the previous 48 hours, and the request by the physician for STAT Gram staining and blood cultures for V. vulnificus.Vibrio vulnificus often causes large, disfiguring ulcers that require extensive debridement or even amputation. Prognosis
Vibrio vulnificus may not be a commonly known bacteria, but it is, however, the most common cause of death due to seafood in the United States.