The anti-inflammatory effects of PARP deactivation has been recently validated in animal models of meningitis, stroke, traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis (MS) (Lenzsér et al., 2007; Farez et al., 2009; Lescot et al., 2010; Rom et al., 2015), where inhibition of PARP diminished brain edema and decreased expression of adhesion molecules, infiltration of leukocytes and neuroinflammation (Zhang et al., 2004; Lenzsér et al., 2007). Here, PARP1 is linked to infectious meningitis.