Meningitis

What is meningitis?

Meningitis is an infection of the meninges, which are the membranes that surround the brain and keep it bathed in the cerebrospinal fluid. So an infection of these membranes will cause the symptoms that we associate with meningitis and obviously the severe implications that it might have.

What are the symptoms of meningitis?

The symptoms of meningitis, the symptoms of an infection, associated with symptoms of irritation and inflammation within the brain and that means, that we will usually carry a fever, we would usually have a severe headache, the headache is usually located along the back part of the head, the one we certainly the one's that we worry about and we look for. We often talk about the symptoms of neck stiffness in meningitis which means that, as a result of the pain at the back of the head, the patient find it difficult to move the neck back and forth. By flexing the head forward, we would stretch the meninges and cause more pain, so the patient resists himself. Then, obviously a temperature, Sometimes, nausea vomiting and a certain types of meningitis we say what is called a rash, which are the changes that we see in the skin as a result of mini minuscule bruising on the skin. We call it a non-blanching rash and that simply means that when you press, the rash does not disappear. And in order to see that, you can press on the rash with a glass and you will see that the rash remains the same rather than disappearing. The important of this rash is that it implies the likelihood of bacterial meningitis which needs very prompt and very urgent diagnosis and treatment.

Can anyone contract meningitis?

Anybody can contract meningitis because it's an infection. We often come into contact with the bacteria or viruses that cause meningitis, but that doesn't mean to say that it's going to progress to meningitis. In some cases, we come into contact with these bugs and nothing happens. However, in certain circumstances, the bacteria or virus will lodge in the meanings, these membranes covering the brain, and cause a full-blown meningitis.

Is meningitis really as serious as people say?

Meningitis is potentially an extremely dangerous situation. It is potentially fatal particularly the bacterial types of meningitises. The viral menigitises are less severe and will often disappear without active treatment but always need to be supervised within a hospital environment. So, certainly the bacterial meningitises need urgent treatment and warrant urgent admission and assessment at hospital.