Medindia » Consumer Health » Health Information » Meningitis - About Meningitis

Meningitis

Rating : 4.01 /5 Comments : 2
Rate this Article:

About

RSS Feeds   Text 
Meningitis is the infection and inflammation of the meninges (lining around the brain and spinal cord), and sometimes the cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

Meningitis

There are several types of meningitis depending on the causative factor:

Viral meningitis - Most common type of meningitis caused by enteroviruses.

Bacterial meningitis - It is rare, but can cause brain damage or death. Bacterial meningitis can be caused due to pneumococcal infections and meningococcal infections.

Sterile meningitis - It is caused due to systemic diseases, toxins, medications or malignancies.

Bacteria and virus causing meningitis spreads through the air as these micro-organisms are present in the respiratory and throat secretions. Viral meningitis can spread through stools also.

The infectious agents (bacteria, virus, fungus, parasites) enter the central nervous system (CNS) and replicate in an uncontrolled fashion resulting in meningeal inflammation. Meningitis can range from mild to life-threatening infections depending on the severity of the infecting organism, age of the person and his health condition.

Meningitis usually presents with a sudden fever, severe headache and a stiff neck, and can progress rapidly. It is usually diagnosed by analyzing the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

Early treatment of meningitis with the appropriate drugs can help prevent complications, including permanent neurological damage and death. Bacterial meningitis may take several days to few weeks to respond, while viral meningitis resolves within few days.

Hemophilus influenza type B vaccine (HiB vaccine) can prevent H.influenza meningitis. Also, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is very effective at preventing pneumococcal meningitis.
Advertisement

EmailEmail RSS FeedsRSS Feeds Print this pagePrint Save this pageSave LinkLink SyndicateSyndicate
Share it!

Related Links

Hib Vaccine


Encyclopedia section of medindia gives general info about Hib ...

Meningitis in Children


Meningitis in ...

Immunization in Children - Pneumococcal Vaccine


Distance Education for Immunization in ...

Infographics on meningitis vaccine


Do you want to get instant visual information on Meningitis Vaccine. Use this section of medindia and open a pandora's box on the ...
Comment & Contribute
Comments should be on the topic and should not be abusive. Comments are normally moderated and are reviewed after they are posted.
* Your comment can be maximum of 2500 characters

Notify me when reply is posted
I agree to the terms and conditions
  
If you have a question about health related issues, you can now post it in our Ask An Expert section on our community website Medwonders.com and get answers from our panel of experts.
Posted by:  DR.KABERIA(Guest)  Posted on: 11/21/2012
please explain the pathophysiology of meningitis.



Posted by:  ennairam_23  Posted on: 02/01/2011
Meningitis is a dangerous disease. My son had meningitis and we stayed in the hospital for 32 days. It is very costly too! The medicines are expensive. We almost lost him, too. Good thing the doctors are very good.




X

Medwonders Health Network

Citing this Health Article
The information on Medindia is factual, unbiased and authentic. If you find the content useful - PLEASE INCLUDE A LINK TO THIS PAGE.

Highlight the text, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.