Meningitis: the first signs, late symptoms

Meningitis is a disease caused by microbes: viruses, bacteria, rarely - fungi. No one is immune from his appearance, but most of all children and adolescents are prone to illness, especially those who have congenital or acquired brain pathologies. Elderly people who have weakened immunity and chronic impairment of blood supply to the brain, also often suffer meningitis. The first signs of this disease should be known to everyone.

How is the infection of meningitis?

The virus can get to a person by airborne droplets, through water and food that has not undergone sufficient thermal treatment, through insect bites, by contact. Also, being in the body for a long time, it can be activated and penetrate the brain envelope from lymphocytes or nerve cells with suppressed immunity (these are herpes viruses, Epstein-Barra, cytomegalovirus). If the virus is adequately repelled by the body's defense systems, meningitis will not develop.

Bacterial meningitis most often occurs when the pathogen spreads to the membranes of the brain from the ear cavity with purulent otitis, from the nose - with purulent rhinitis, from the nasal sinuses. Can be brought from the blood during sepsis, and also get directly onto the shell with a penetrating injury of the cavity of the skull or spine.

If the meningitis is viral, it is almost impossible to catch it from the patient. The maximum that you get is a viral uncomplicated disease that will have the form of SARS, intestinal infection, herpetic rashes, and also measles, chicken pox, mumps, and other viral infections. It is possible to get sick in the event that the immunity or strongly aggressive agent is very weakened. Therefore, if your child had contact with another baby in the children's team, who was subsequently found to have viral meningitis, you should know the first signs of the disease , but you should not panic because of this. You can limit yourself only to prophylactic drugs "Arbidol", "Anaferon" or "Grosprinozin". You can poke a little droplets of interferon into the nose.

If meningitis develops as a complication of other purulent diseases, it is not contagious. That is, if you communicated with a relative whose purulent meningitis appeared as a result of untreated or untreated otitis, sinusitis (or other sinusitis), pneumonia, you may not worry about yourself. Only one bacterium, meningococcus, which causes infectious meningitis (it is also called epidemic), can be transmitted from one person to another. The source may become a person with a meningococcal infection (it may appear as a runny nose and sore throat, maybe in the form of a rash or as a meningitis) or a carrier of the bacterium. He "distributes" germs with talking, coughing and sneezing. People who have close contact with such a person are infected: relatives or children in a children's team. Among them there are outbreaks of meningitis. If you or your child have had contact with a person who has had a meningococcal infection, consult an infectious disease specialist immediately for a prophylactic antibiotic treatment - if this is shown in this case and when meningitis may occur.

The first signs and symptoms of the disease

The initial symptoms of the disease can be a runny nose, malaise, weakness, cough. There may be a rash: one that will be characteristic of rubella, measles, chicken pox, herpes or herpes zoster. If there is a rash of dark red, brown or black, which does not itch and does not hurt, does not become paler when stretching the skin underneath, urgently call an ambulance: it can be meningococcal meningitis, the first signs of which may appear much later.

The earliest symptoms of meningitis are:

- the appearance of a severe headache, which is temporarily removed with anesthetic drugs, increases with a sharp turn of the head, bright light, loud sounds;

Elevated body temperature (mandatory sign of meningitis);

- nausea, vomiting, which occur against the background of a headache, are not accompanied by diarrhea.

Later, there may appear: a violation of consciousness by type of excitation and inadequacy or, conversely, in the form of a state where it is difficult to awaken a person; Convulsions, delirium, hallucinations. At the kids, a large fontanel bulges out, they become drowsy, refuse to eat and drink, do not want to go in their arms, but lie, throwing their heads back.