Abstract: OBJECTIVE To explore the changes of cerebrospinal fluid and blood white blood cell (WBC) counts, procalcitonin (PCT), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in children with central nervous system infection and analyze the correlation so as to provide guidance for differential diagnosis of the children with central nervous system infection. METHODS Totally 80 children with central nervous system infection who were hospitalized from Jan 2014 to Dec 2015 were chosen as the infection group, meanwhile, 40 children who needed to receive inguinal hernia repair under epidural anesthesia were set as the control group.The blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected to detect the WBC, PCT, and CRP. RESULTS The levels of cerebrospinal fluid and blood WBC, PCT, and CRP were significantly higher in the infection group than in the control group (P＜0.05).The levels of cerebrospinal fluid and blood WBC, PCT, and CRP were significantly higher in the children with purulent meningitis than in the children with viral encephalitis or meningitis (P＜0.05).The levels of cerebrospinal fluid and blood CRP were significantly higher in the children with viral encephalitis or meningitis than in the children of the control group (P＜0.05).The pearson correlation analysis showed that the cerebrospinal fluid and blood WBC, PCT, and CRP of the children with central nervous system infection were positively correlated (P＜0.05), there was positive correlation between the cerebrospinal fluid and blood WBC, PCT, and CRP of the children with purulent meningitis (P＜0.05), and there was positive correlation between the cerebrospinal fluid and blood CRP of the children with viral encephalitis or meningitis, while there was no correlation between WBC and PCT. CONCLUSION There is significant correlation between the cerebrospinal fluid and blood WBC, PCT, and CRP of the children with central nervous system infection.The detection of the above indicators may facilitate the differential diagnosis of purulent meningitis and viral encephalitis or meningitis.The levels of WBC, PCT, and CRP of the patients with purulent meningitis are remarkably elevated; the CRP level of the patients with viral infection is moderately elevated, however, the levels of WBC and PCT do not change significantly.