Meningitis: the first symptoms in people of different ages and first aid

Meningitis is a disease that occurs when a microbe (virus, bacterium, fungus), breaking all the protective barriers, gets on the shell, which covers the head and spinal cord directly. As a result, inflammation occurs in this place, threatening at any time, especially without treatment, to go directly to the tissue of the organs of the central nervous system, and also cause life-threatening consequences.

Meningitis, the first symptoms of which usually appear against the background of purulent diseases of the ear, nose, throat (especially if a person has a constant outflow of cerebrospinal fluid through the nose or ear), lungs, and also a few days after the occurrence of measles, chickenpox, rubella , ARI, mumps, symptoms, can develop as a primary disease, that is, which occurs against a background of complete health without any previous phenomena. Sometimes the disease can complicate herpetic infection, shingles, infectious mononucleosis. In all these cases, the sooner adequate care is provided in an infectious inpatient setting, the better the prognosis for life.

Meningitis: the first symptoms in adults

The initial manifestations of this disease in adults are:

1) Headache is very intense, it is usually localized throughout the head or in the temples and parietal areas, it increases with sudden head rises, the transition to an upright position, the patients prefer to lie because of it. This pain can occur in the middle of the night and wake a person.

2) A rise in body temperature is an indispensable sign of meningitis. If instead of a headache in rare cases, there is pain in the back, then fever is a constant "companion" of this disease.

3) Nausea and vomiting - they do not depend on food intake, after them it does not become easier. It is because of these symptoms that patients are most often mistaken for "poisoned", the headache is written off for intoxication, and the treatment is performed for a time not in the volume that is necessary for meningitis.

4) Photophobia against the background of the first two signs may also indicate that it is meningitis.

5) Strengthening the sensitivity of the skin - a normal touch becomes unpleasant to a person, he tries to protect himself from this.

6) The appearance of a dark stellate rash against the background of the unchanged skin of the buttocks, legs, forearms, rarely - the trunk indicates that meningitis develops here, the first symptoms of which may appear later or, in the case of lightning, not appear at all. The very appearance of such spots is an occasion for an immediate call of an ambulance, since the disease is deadly and will not pass by itself.

The first signs of meningitis in children under one year old

- Lethargy, drowsiness, sometimes the baby can not even be awakened.

- Unusual, inadequate behavior against even slightly elevated body temperature (this may indicate that the child sees hallucinations).

- Monotonous crying.

- The spring, which is for children under one year, protrudes above the level of bones (it must be on the same level with them and pulsate).

- The child does not calm down, if you take it on the handle, on the contrary, it screams even more.

- Vomiting "fountain".

- Refusing to eat.

- A rash, which is usually dark in color, stellate in shape, merges with each other, does not disappear when stretching the skin.

- The child lies with his head thrown back and arched unnaturally.

- Convulsions against a background of low body temperature or even when it has already decreased by itself or under the influence of antipyretic agents.

Parents should be alerted to the appearance of any of these symptoms on the background of increased body temperature.

If the doctor suspects that a child or an adult has meningitis, the first symptoms that he checks are:

A) Stiffness of the occiput muscles: in the supine position with maximum relaxation it is impossible to bend the neck so that the chin reaches the sternum;

B) in infants: if you take his armpits, he pulls his legs to his chest, it hurts when they are stretched;

C) the leg bent in the hip and knee joint can not be unbent in the knee (checked from both sides);

D) the leg is bent in two joints, if you try to unbend it in the knee, the second leg is bent (you have to look from both sides).

If at least one symptom is positive, this is the basis for conducting a lumbar puncture, because only in this way it is possible to diagnose "Meningitis".

First aid for meningitis

Should be provided at home and in the car by ambulance doctors, you need only urgently to call them. Before the brigade arrives, you need to try to provide the patient with peace, silence and half-darkness. He can not get up, so you need to provide a ship or a diaper so that a person can go to the toilet lying down. You can drink, but also without getting up.

If there is nausea, you need to turn the patient's head to the side, especially if he is unconscious, so that he does not choke on his own vomit. With cramps, it is necessary to withdraw the lower jaw from the corners so that the lower teeth are in front of the upper ones - this prevents the tongue from slipping and blocking the respiratory tract.