Meningitis
Meningitis
Sandie L.
Meningitis is a bacterial infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord (meninges). Meninges are the soft tissue membranes which cover the brain and spinal cord underneath the skull and spinal column. Meningitis is capable of being a life-threatening disease or can resolve on its own after a few weeks depending on what it is caused from. Children, teens, and young adults are the most common people to get meningitis. Meningitis that affects babies up to 2 or 3 months old is called neonatal meningitis. There are five different types of this disease including: bacterial, viral, parasitic, fungal, and non-infectious meningitis. 
The most important thing is to go to the doctors immediately if you suspect you have any of the signs or symptoms. Going sooner rather than later could save your life depending on what you have.
Bacterial meningitis is nothing to take lightly. This requires immediate medical attention and will take antibiotics to treat. Not getting treatment quick enough can lead to brain damage and death. This can progress rapidly and the disease can claim lives in a matter of a few days. There are many different pathogens that cause bacterial meningitis, some of those most common are Haemophilus influenza, Streptococcus pheumoniae, group B Streptococcus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Neisseria meningitidis. College students living in dorms are required to immunize against meningitis because this is an infectious disease that spreads quickly where there are large groups of people. Some of the pathogens can be considered contagious, but luckily for us most of the pathogens are not contagious. They could be spread though if you have a compromised immune system or you have been in close quarters with someone who does have bacterial meningitis. A healthy person can carry the bacteria in their nose and throat without getting sick. It is opportunistic and waits till the immune system is down. Signs and symptoms include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, and confusion. Most signs and symptoms develop within 3-7 days of being exposed to the bacteria. Diagnosing meningitis is done by taking samples of blood or cerebrospinal fluid. These will be sent to a lab to be tested. The certain type of bacteria that is the cause is necessary so doctors will know how to correctly treat, how bad the symptoms can get, and how to prevent further signs and symptoms. Cultures sometimes will be grown as well to detect the presence of bacteria. Bacterial meningitis can be treated with antibiotics, but it is a must that treatment is started as soon as possible. Antibiotic therapy can reduce your chance of dying from bacterial meningitis to less than 15%. The most common prevention for this disease is to receive your immunization against it.
| Age Group | Causes |
| Newborns | Group B Streptococcus, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes |
| Infants and Children | Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae type b |
| Adolescents and Young Adults | Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae |
| Older Adults | Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Listeria monocytogenes |
Most meningitis cases are caused by a viral infection. Viral meningitis may improve without treatment in a matter of 2 weeks. This is usually less severe than bacterial meningitis. A group of viruses caused Enteroviruses have been reported to cause thirty percent of viral cases in the United States. Many of the viral meningitis cases never have a specific virus named. These viruses tend to circulate late summer and early fall. Viral meningitis can affect anyone and everyone, but infants younger than 1 month and people with compromised immune symptoms are at higher risk. Enteroviruses are most commonly spread from person to person through fecal contamination. This can happen when changing a diaper or using the bathroom and not washing your hands. Respiratory secretions like saliva and mucus can also spread the enterovirus. Signs and symptoms of viral meningitis are fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, and confusion. Diagnosing viral meningitis can be done by blood samples and cerebrospinal fluid samples. Unfortunately there is no specific treatment for viral meningitis, but most patients recover on their own with no treatment. There is no vaccine to guard against viral meningitis, but there are other things you can do to help prevent yourself from getting this disease. Washing your hands, disinfect things before you touch them like shopping carts, avoid kissing or sharing drinks with strangers; you don’t know what they have, and just try to be a healthy person so your immune syste
m doesn’t get weak.
Parasitic meningitis is called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) and is a very rare form of meningitis that causes a fatal brain infection. The Naegleria fowleri parasite enters the body through the nose and this occurs in people who go swimming and diving in warm freshwater places. You can’t get this by drinking contaminated water. This leads in destruction of brain tissues. Initial symptoms start 1 to 7 days after infection occurred. These symptoms include headache, fever, nausea, and stiff neck. Later symptoms that can happen are hallucinations, loss of balance, seizures, confusion, and not paying attention. This disease can cause death within 12 days. The PAM disease is rare so diagnosis usually doesn’t happen because the symptoms are more likely caused by other more common meningitis diseases. Treatment can be effective with certain drugs, but none have been tested on patients only in labs because the disease takes lives so fast.
Fungal infections are not that common in the disease, but can happen. The fungal infection can lead to chronic meningitis. Cryptococcal meningitis is a common form that happens to people with immune system problems, like AIDS. This fungal infection needs to be treated with an antifungal medicine and can become life threatening if it is not. Histoplasma can cause meningitis and can happen to anyone, but people with immunodeficiences are, of course, at higher risk. Coccidioides is found in the soil of southwestern United States and northern Mexico, this can cause fungal meningitis. People at higher risk of this kind of coccidioidal meningitis are 3rd trimester pregnant women, African American, Filipinos, immunocompromised person. Fungal meningitis is not contagious. People get this from inhaling fungal spores from the environment. So where you live can increase or decrease your chances of contracting this rare form of the disease. Cryptococcus is contracted from inhaling soil contaminated with bird droppings that were carrying this. Histoplasma can be got from inhaling soil with lots of bird or bat droppings. Signs and symptoms often occur more gradually in fungal meningitis but they include headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, confusion, and personality changes. To confirm a patient having fungal meningitis blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples will be taken and specific lab tests must be done to determine specific type of fungal infection. Treatment of this disease is with high doses of antifungal medicine that is usually given intravenously. Treatment length depends on the fungus, patients’ health, and how the treatment is progressing. Prevention to fungal meningitis can be done by avoiding those areas above stated so you reduce your chances.
Noninfectious meningitis has some different causes like cancers, lupus, head injuries, brain surgeries, and some drugs. This isn’t spread person to person; this is something you just develop. This has some of the same symptoms as the other meningitis’ like fever, headache, and stiff neck. Other symptoms that can occur are nausea, vomiting, and light sensitivity.
Meningitis signs and symptoms can develop very rapidly over a couple hours or in a few days. These are signs and symptoms that can be seen in all the different meningitis’ so we know what we are looking for so we can diagnose and treat early. Some signs and symptoms that can happen in individuals over the age of 2 years old include:
* High fever
* Severe headache that is unlike any other headache you’ve experienced
* Stiff neck
* Vomiting or nausea with headache
* Confusion or difficulty concentrating
* Seizures
* Sleepiness or difficulty waking up
* Sensitivity to light
* Lack of interest in drinking and eating
* Skin rash in some cases, such as in viral or meningococcal meningitis
Incidence and Mortality
Overall during 2003-2007, approximately 4100 cases of bacterial meningitis occurred annually in the United States, with approximately 500 deaths (Emedicine). Fifteen percent of the cases seen are young adults and adolescents. The rate of S pneumoniae meningitis was 6.5 cases per 100,000 children that were from 1 month to almost 2 years old (Emedicine). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1,400 to 2,800 adults and children in the United States come down with bacterial meningitis each year. Of these, 30 percent are teenagers and young adults, and 16 percent are babies under age 1.Of all those who are infected with meningitis almost twenty percent of the cases will result in some sort of long term consequence like brain damage. Incidence rates are higher in black and Native American populations.
Meningitis Research Foundation is an amazing foundation founded in 1989 that is working towards eliminating meningitis by doing innovative research. They are currently funding 19 research projects. Not only are they working towards a cure they also offer support for those affected by the disease. You can help the cause by donating money that goes to help fund research. http://www.meningitis.org
Meningitis takes many babies lives because they are not strong enough to fight it off. The March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies who are under a year. They fund research to help prevent premature births and make babies stronger. All this research helps so fewer babies are affected by the disease. Check them out at http://www.marchofdimes.com/
The Ronald McDonald House Charities helps programs that support different programs that work to improve the health and well-being of children. This is another great charity that would greatly benefit meningitis research in children. They do great things like provide a home like atmosphere when a families little one is sick, so even if you are far from home you are never far from home. www.rmhc.org
http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/parasitic.html
http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/fungal.html
http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/bacterial.html
http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/non-infectious.html
http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/viral.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001700/
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/meningitis/DS00118
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/meningitis/DS00118/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs
http://children.webmd.com/vaccines/tc/meningitis-topic-overview
http://www.nmaus.org/meningitis/
http://www.meningitis.com.au/about_meningitis/viral_meningitis.phtml
Pathology Project 