If you are experiencing symptoms of bacterial meningitis, seek medical care immediately. The disease can usually be treated with antibiotics. If meningitis is caught early enough a patient can make a full recovery with few or no lingering effects. But the best way to combat meningitis is to prevent it through vaccination and sound health practices. Understanding the causes of meningitis and how it spreads will help you stay healthy and keep you from experiencing this dangerous disease.
Certain factors place young adults at increased risk of getting meningitis. Learn about how lifestyle factors and vaccines can help you avoid this…. Meningitis is frequently misunderstood, yet can cause serious harm and is sometimes fatal. Learn how to the spot the early signs and symptoms of an…. There are important differences between viral, fungal, and bacterial meningitis, in terms of their severity, how common they are, and the way they are….
Meningitis occurs when the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord become inflamed. This is normally caused by infection but can also have….
Although recommended for college students, the meningococcal vaccine is also recommended for all young people and individuals with certain medical…. Meningitis B is a very serious disease that can progresses quickly.
Learn about this vaccine, including its effectiveness, how it works, and who…. Carcinomatous meningitis is a complication of late stage cancer. It develops when cancer cells spread to your brain or spinal cord from other parts of….
Meningitis B is a rare and potentially deadly type of bacterial meningitis. Learn all about meningitis B, including symptoms to look for and how to…. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Pictures Symptoms Causes Prevention Why prevention matters Outlook Overview Meningitis is the inflammation of the membranes that outline your brain and spinal cord.
The MRF Membership and Support team are here for you for any questions you might have about meningitis and septicaemia and their effects on you, or your family and friends. Are you at risk? Who is at risk from meningitis and septicaemia? Anyone can get meningitis or septicaemia, but various factors can increase the risk: Age — In general, young children are at the highest risk of getting bacterial meningitis and septicaemia but other age groups can also be vulnerable to specific types Geography and environment - Some countries have higher rates of meningitis and septicaemia.
There is also evidence that mass gatherings and exposure to smoke, for example, can make people more susceptible to certain causes of meningitis and septicaemia Medical conditions - like problems with the immune system can increase risk Contact with a case - cases of meningitis are usually isolated, but in some situations people who have been in close contact with someone who is ill with bacterial meningitis may be at increased risk of disease.
Young babies Newborn babies are at the highest risk of all age groups. Symptoms in babies Toddlers Toddlers are the next highest risk age group for bacterial meningitis. Despite this, there are still causes of meningitis and septicaemia for which no vaccines are available, Symptoms in toddlers Teenagers and young adults Teenagers and young adults are at increased risk of meningitis and septicaemia caused by meningococcal bacteria.
Symptoms in teens and young adults Older adults Adults over the age of 65 are also at an increased risk of certain types of meningitis. Symptoms in adults. Geography and environment. Medical conditions. Certain medical conditions can put people at higher risk of meningitis and septicaemia. Contact with a case. Babies and toddlers are at increased risk of menigitis Robbie Jones contracted meningococcal disease at 21 months resulting in his left leg being amputated below the knee, the right leg above the knee and the loss of fingers on his left hand.
What are meningitis and septicaemia? Meningitis and septicaemia are serious, life threatening illnesses. Read more. Causes of meningitis and septicaemia. Find out more. Hypertonic saline might also control the commonly observed hyponatraemia In case of hydrocephalus, repeated lumbar punctures or placement of an external lumbar drain can reduce intracranial pressure. Invasive procedures should be withheld in patients with mild enlargement of the ventricular system without clinical deterioration.
Seizures, particularly focal, can be attributed to focal oedema, early cortical venous thrombosis and cerebral infarction from occlusion of penetrating branches that are encased by the basal purulent exudate Palliative care supportive care only might be necessary owing to a poor neurological prognosis. However, early withdrawal of therapy in patients with preserved brainstem reflexes is inappropriate, as these seemingly hopeless patients can actually survive and some fully recover Individuals who have had bacterial meningitis particularly pneumococcal meningitis are at high risk of neurological complications that affect their quality of life — About half of survivors experience focal neurological deficits, such as hearing loss, epilepsy and cognitive impairment — A meta-analysis showed that the risk of major sequelae was twice as high in low-income countries compared with high-income countries Post-meningitis complications have a relevant economic burden on health care systems — Patients with S.
In patients with meningitis and hearing loss, obliteration of the cochlear lumen might follow the meningitis episode and has been associated with decreased success rates of cochlear implant surgery Thus, early identification of hearing loss is crucial and screening is advised before discharging a patient. Survivors of bacterial meningitis are at high risk of cognitive impairment reduced processing speed , which can be observed in approximately one-third of patients who have had pneumococcal or meningococcal meningitis In Denmark, a nationwide population-based cohort study showed that bacterial meningitis during childhood negatively affects educational level Despite advances in prevention and treatment, bacterial meningitis remains one of the most widespread and lethal infectious diseases worldwide.
Prevention of disease and early initiation of the appropriate treatment in patients with suspected or proven bacterial meningitis are the key factors to reduce morbidity and mortality.
Furthermore, as drug resistance spreads and serotype and serogroup incidences shift, novel antibiotic and adjuvant treatment strategies must be developed 38 , although growing evidence supports the decrease of antibiotic resistance for pneumococci since the implementation of conjugate vaccines Vaccination programmes and health education are needed to prevent the disease.
Extending the use of the available conjugate vaccines in Africa and Asia, where the burden of acute bacterial meningitis is the greatest, will contribute to defeating the disease globally. Herd protection plays a major part in the effectiveness of conjugate vaccines 12 , , , helping to protect infants who are too young to be fully immunized and the elderly who have poor immunological response to vaccination 7.
In view of the changing epidemiology, uniform surveillance systems should be implemented in many countries to monitor the effect of conjugate vaccines on serotype incidences, including emerging strains that are not covered by current vaccines. Molecular epidemiology of bacterial strains is key: whole-genome sequencing has been highly valuable in tracking the emergence, virulence and pathophysiology of these bacterial agents — Thus, surveillance studies will also need to evaluate the effects of different bacterial genotypes on the clinical outcome Meanwhile, improved protein vaccines with broad coverage are needed In the United Kingdom, a nationwide vaccination campaign using a multicomponent meningococcal B protein vaccine , was launched in September and an assessment on disease prevention is eagerly awaited The pathophysiological mechanisms of bacterial meningitis are complex.
In the s, studies on twins and adopted children showed that genetic factors are major determinants in the development of infectious diseases, including meningitis 29 , However, unbiased genome-wide association studies that take into account gene—gene interactions between host and pathogen could reveal new targets for vaccine development and treatment These types of studies require large numbers of patients, so joined efforts among research groups and countries should be sought; afterward, genetic, functional and experimental validation will be needed to distinguish real from spurious results.
Experimental animal models are essential to unravel the pathophysiology of pneumococcal meningitis and to evaluate new treatment strategies. The main goal for new therapies will be dampening the inflammatory response, and the targets with the highest therapeutic potential belong to the signalling cascades that regulate damage mediated by reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species , caspase inhibition , complement system activation 88 or vascular integrity Animal studies of new treatments should adhere to current standards of comparative experimental research These studies should include a standard treatment arm that consists of antibiotics plus dexamethasone the current standard treatment strategy and should be designed to detect a relevant clinical outcome, which is convincing enough to justify a clinical trial.
Blocking the complement cascade seems to be the most promising strategy Clinical evaluation of complement-blocking therapies should be facilitated by the pharmaceutical industry. New and more-specific anti-inflammatory treatments are urgently needed.
Randomized controlled trials are crucial to establish efficacy, safety and treatment modalities of new drugs against bacterial meningitis To maximize the results, these clinical trials should be conducted on an international scale. Thus, international networks on clinical research in neurological infectious diseases, using uniform diagnostic and enrolment criteria and research standards, need to be established.
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