How can meningitis be contracted

In some cases, doctors may give antibiotics to anyone who has been in close contact with a person who has bacterial meningitis to help prevent infection.

Get medical care right away if you think that your child has meningitis or you see symptoms such as:. If your child has been near someone who has meningitis, call your doctor to ask about preventive medicine. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size.

What Is Meningitis? What Causes Meningitis? Bacterial Meningitis Bacterial meningitis is rare, but is usually serious and can be life-threatening if not treated right away. Viral Meningitis Viral meningitis also called aseptic meningitis is more common than bacterial meningitis and usually less serious. Common symptoms include: fever lack of energy irritability headache sensitivity to light stiff neck skin rash Meningitis in Infants Infants with meningitis might have different symptoms.

Other symptoms of meningitis in babies can include: jaundice a yellowish tint to the skin stiffness of the body and neck a lower-than-normal temperature a weak suck a high-pitched cry How Is Meningitis Diagnosed? How Is Meningitis Treated? What Problems Can Happen? Can Meningitis Be Prevented? Vaccinations Routine immunization can go a long way toward preventing meningitis. This includes kids who: live in or travel to countries where infection is common have some types of immune disorders are present during an outbreak A newer type of meningococcal vaccine called MenB protects against a type of meningococcal bacterium not covered by the older vaccine.

Avoiding Germs Kids and adults should wash their hands well and often, particularly before eating and after using the bathroom, and if they work closely with kids as in a daycare. Meningitis can strike quickly and kill within hours, so urgent medical attention is essential. Vaccines are the only way to prevent meningitis, and until we have vaccines to prevent all types, you need to know the signs and symptoms to look out for and the action to take.

Most people will make a good recovery, but some will suffer life-long after-effects and complications. You might also like Meningitis - frequently asked questions Here are some questions that we regularly get asked, we are here to help with any query or question you have.

Glass test A rash that does not fade under pressure is a sign of meningococcal septicaemia, do the glass test. Bartt R. Acute bacterial and viral meningitis. Continuum Lifelong Learning in Neurology. Viral meningitis. Fungal meningitis. Derber CJ, et al. Head and neck emergencies: Bacterial meningitis, encephalitis, brain abscess, upper airway obstruction, and jugular septic thrombophlebitis. Medical Clinics of North America.

Longo DL, et al. Acute meningitis. In: Harrison's Principals of Internal Medicine. McGraw Hill; Acute bacterial meningitis. Merck Manual Professional Version. Prevention — Listeriosis. Subacute and chronic meningitis. Van de Beek D, et al. Advances in treatment of bacterial meningitis.

The Lancet. Recommended immunization schedules for children and adolescents aged 18 years or younger, United States, Recommended adult immunization schedule for adults aged 19 or older, United States, Meningococcal vaccination: What everyone should know. Sexton D. Approach to the patient with chronic meningitis. Tunkel A. This makes you feel ill and feverish, and the poisons begin to attack the lining of your blood vessels, so that they leak. As blood fluids leak from blood vessels throughout your body, the smaller volume of blood that is left is not enough to carry oxygen to all parts of the body.

Your lungs have to work harder, and in order to maintain circulation to your vital organs, your circulatory system reduces the blood supply to your hands and feet and the surface of your skin. This is how symptoms of septicaemia such as pale skin, cold hands and feet and rapid breathing develop 9. As blood leaks into the surrounding tissues, this shows up on the skin as the typical non-blanching meningococcal rash. In most cases, rapid treatment stops the disease from progressing any further.

But sometimes the patient becomes very seriously ill by the time treatment starts, and the circulatory system is so overloaded that the patient collapses and needs urgent and aggressive resuscitation. In very bad cases, septicaemia also causes blood clots to form throughout the network of tiny blood vessels in skin and muscle tissue.

Tissue that is starved of oxygen this way dies and becomes blackened. This can cause widespread scarring, and in extreme cases can lead to amputation. This can also happen within vital organs, like your kidneys, causing kidney failure in very severe cases.

In the worst cases, even the best medical treatment cannot stop the disease from progressing and the patient dies. In recent decades, about one in five cases of meningococcal septicaemia has been fatal 10 , but quicker and better treatment are improving the chances of surviving When you get meningitis, bacteria that have invaded your bloodstream move across to infect your 'meninges' - the membranes that surround and protect your brain and spinal cord.

The meninges are filled with a liquid called cerebrospinal fluid CSF , which is there to bathe the brain and cushion it against physical damage when you hit your head.

Meningococcal bacteria can multiply freely in CSF, and there they release poisons, causing inflammation and swelling in the meninges and the brain tissue itself.

This increases pressure on your brain, producing symptoms of meningitis such as headache, stiff neck and dislike of bright lights. As the disease progresses, you become drowsy, confused, and delirious, you may have seizures and eventually lose consciousness. In very bad cases, meningitis injures or destroys nerve cells and causes brain damage. This is due to the raised pressure on your brain and the toxic effect of the bacterial poisons on your brain cells, as well as reduced blood supply and formation of blood clots in blood vessels of the brain.

All of these things can lead to after effects and disabilities such as epilepsy, learning difficulties, behavioural problems, problems with coordination or speech and movement disorders.

These effects may be temporary, but in some cases will be permanent. Sometimes, bacterial poisons also damage part of the inner ear the cochlea , causing deafness. Meningococcal meningitis is much less likely to produce long-term neurological damage and deafness than other kinds of bacterial meningitis.

About one person in twenty with meningococcal meningitis dies from the disease Septicaemia and meningitis affect the body in different ways, so they have different sets of symptoms. About half of meningococcal disease occurs in children aged less than five years 13 , and babies are at the highest risk because their immune systems have not yet fully developed.

There is a second, smaller increase in risk for older adolescents, mainly for social and behavioural reasons People with immune deficiencies, such as those without a spleen, are also at a higher risk from infection. Genetic factors play a role, but few of these have a strong effect A GP who suspects that someone has meningococcal disease will arrange for emergency transfer to hospital, and give antibiotics 16 or else ensure that antibiotics are given urgently by the ambulance paramedic or as soon as possible on reaching hospital.

Meningococcal disease must always be treated in hospital. Treatment may begin immediately if signs and symptoms of meningococcal disease are clear enough. If what is wrong is not clear, the patient may be kept under observation at first. Along with a physical examination, blood will be taken for tests and the doctor may do a lumbar puncture. Lumbar puncture is important to confirm the diagnosis of meningitis, and to show which germ is causing the illness so that the most appropriate antibiotics can be chosen.

If a patient with meningitis is very severely ill, it might not be safe to do a lumbar puncture right away, so this may be postponed. Having the diagnosis confirmed can be helpful afterwards, for example when seeking long-term medical advice and follow-up care.

Many patients need resuscitation when they get to hospital: oxygen is given and one or more intravenous lines put in to deliver medicines and resuscitation fluids.

Patients with septicaemia may need large amounts of resuscitation fluid to bring their blood volume back to normal. Patients with meningitis may be given steroids to reduce inflammation and other medicines to lower pressure around the brain.