Your Childrens Health

Meningitis is a serious and potentially life-threatening disease, and involves an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord, called the meninges.

This inflammation can be caused by a variety of factors, including bacterial infections and viral infections, and also by some species of fungi, protozoa, and other parasites.

Some medications, some cancers, or various other diseases can also inflame the meninges, although these non-infectious causes tend to be very rare.

The most common symptoms include fever, lethargy, irritability, headaches, photophobia (eye sensitivity to light), and a stiff neck, but there can be a range of other symptoms as well.

Newborns and infants with meningitis may not show all of these common symptoms. Instead they may simply be extremely irritable or lethargic.

Here are the main types of meningitis and their causes:

Type of Meningitis Cause
Bacterial Meningitis • Meningococcal Meningitis and Meningococcal Septicaemia Meningitis caused by Meningococcal bacteria, which has five main types - A, B, C, W135 and Y.
• Pneumococcal Meningitis caused by Streptococcus Pneumoniae bacteria
• Hib Meningitis caused by Haemophilus Influenzae Type B bacteria
• TB Meningitis caused by Bacillus Tubercle bacteria
• Neonatal Meningitis caused by Escherichia Coli or Streptococcus Agalactiae bacteria
Fungal Meningitis • Cryptococcus Neoformans fungus.
Amoebic Meningitis • Amoeba found in geothermal and stagnating pools of fresh water in temperatures of 30°C
Viral Meningitis • Coxsackie virus, Echoviruses, and a range of other viruses, and also following infection with herpes simplex, measles, polio, chickenpox, or mumps.

When someone becomes infected with a particular bacterium or virus that has been associated with meningitis, it does not mean that the person will automatically get meningitis.

In most cases, the particular micro-organism will simply cause its usual infection. However, in other cases, the micro-organism may cause meningitis without the person becoming ill or showing any symptoms. Even though they may have no signs or symptoms of disease, they can still spread the germ and infect others.

In other cases, the person will develop full-blown meningitis, which is a serious and potentially life threatening disease.

If you suspect that you or your child has Meningitis seek immediate professional medical advice.

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 9th, 2006 at 8:26 pm and is filed under Meningitis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.