Meningitis is an acute inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or altered consciousness, vomiting, and an inability to tolerate light or loud noises. Young children often exhibit only nonspecific symptoms, such as irritability, drowsiness, or poor feeding. If a rash is present, it may indicate a particular cause of meningitis; for instance, meningitis caused by meningococcal bacteria may be accompanied by a characteristic rash.
The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs. Meningitis can be life-threatening because of the inflammation's proximity to the brain and spinal cord; therefore, the condition is classified as a medical emergency. A lumbar puncture diagnoses or excludes meningitis. A needle is inserted into the spinal canal to collect a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), that envelops the brain and spinal cord. The CSF is examined in a medical laboratory.
Some forms of meningitis are preventable by immunization with the meningococcal, mumps, pneumococcal, and Hib vaccines. Giving antibiotics to people with significant exposure to certain types of meningitis may also be useful. The first treatment in acute meningitis consists of promptly giving antibiotics and sometimes antiviral drugs. Corticosteroids can also be used to prevent complications from excessive inflammation. Meningitis can lead to serious long-term consequences such as deafness, epilepsy, hydrocephalus, or cognitive deficits, especially if not treated quickly.
In 2013 meningitis occurred in about 16 million people worldwide. This resulted in 303,000 deaths – down from 464,000 deaths in 1990. With appropriate treatment the risk of death in bacterial meningitis is less than 15%.Outbreaks of bacterial meningitis occur between December and June each year in an area of sub-Saharan Africa known as the meningitis belt. Smaller outbreaks may also occur in other areas of the world. The word meningitis is from Greek µ????? méninx, "membrane" and the medical suffix -itis, "inflammation".
We researched this topic for you and found the following best online resources. They are categorized into basic, advanced, and research level based on the extent of information you need. You will be taken to the respective websites by pressing on the links below.
Basic information:
http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/bacterial.html cdc bacterial meningitis
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases_conditions/hic_bacterial_meningitis cleveland clinic bacterial meningitis
http://www.healthline.com/health/bacterial-meningitis-causes-and-how-they-re-spread health line bacterial meningitis: causes and how it’s spread
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/meningitis/symptoms-causes/dxc-20169522 mayo clinic symptoms and causes
http://www.webmd.com/children/understanding-meningitis-basics#1 web md understanding meningitis -- the basics
https://www.msdmanuals.com/home/brain,-spinal-cord,-and-nerve-disorders/meningitis/acute-bacterial-meningitis msd manuals acute bacterial meningitis
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000680.htm medline plus meningitis
http://www.voicesofmeningitis.org/types-of-meningitis.html voice of meningitis types of meningitis
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/meningitis/pages/introduction.aspx nhs uk meningitis
http://www.dshs.texas.gov/idcu/disease/bacterial-meningitis/ bacterial meningitis
http://www.myvmc.com/diseases/bacterial-meningitis/ my vmc bacterial meningitis
http://lifeinthefastlane.com/ccc/bacterial-meningitis/ life in the fastlane bacterial meningitis
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/meningitis better health meningitis
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/meningitis university ofmatyland medical center meningitis
Advanced information:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/961497-overview medscape pediatric bacterial meningitis
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/meningitis_in_adults/article_em.htm emedicine health meningitis in adults
http://patient.info/doctor/meningitis-pro patient meningitis
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9276.php medicalnews today meningitis: causes, symptoms and treatments
http://www.cochrane.org/cd004405/ari_corticosteroids-bacterial-meningitis cochrane corticosteroids for bacterial meningitis
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs141/en/ who meningococcal meningitis
https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/menin.html what is bacterial meningitis?
http://neuropathology-web.org/chapter5/chapter5asuppurative.html bacterial meningitis
https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/meningitis-bacterial/ national organisatiom for rare diseases meningitis, bacterial
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20161006/scientists-uncover-how-microbes-invade-the-brain-in-bacterial-meningitis.aspx newsmedical scientists uncover how microbes invade the brain in bacterial meningitis
https://radiopaedia.org/articles/pyogenic-meningitis radiopedia pyogenic meningitis
Research:
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/criem/2012/193543/ roger chirurgi and samrina kahlon, “isolated torticollis may present as an atypical presentation of meningitis,” case reports in emergency medicine, vol. 2012, article id 193543, 2 pages, 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/193543
mohammadi sf, patil ab, nadagir sd, nandihal n, lakshminarayana s a. diagnostic value of latex agglutination test in diagnosis of acute bacterial meningitis. ann indian acad neurol [serial online] 2013 [cited 2016 nov 24];16:645-9. available from: http://www.annalsofian.org/text.asp?2013/16/4/645/120491
http://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=pmc3814407&blobtype=pdf stork m, grijpstra j, bos mp, man˜ as torres c, devos n, et al. (2013) zinc piracy as a mechanism of neisseria meningitidis for evasion of nutritional immunity. plos pathog 9(10): e1003733. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1003733
ghosh d, gupta p, prabhakar s. systemic brucellosis with chronic meningitis : a case report. neurol india [serial online] 1999 [cited 2016 nov 24];47:58-60. available from: http://www.neurologyindia.com/text.asp?1999/47/1/58/1658
http://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2334-7-101 meningitis registry of hospitalized cases in children: epidemiological patterns of acute bacterial meningitis throughout a 32-year period by maria n theodoridou et al., bmc infectious diseases20077:101 doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-7-101
http://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2334-12-71 characterization of a pneumococcal meningitis mouse model by barry mook-kanamori et al., bmc infectious diseases201212:71 doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-12-71
http://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=pmc4735509&blobtype=pdf vuong j, collard j-m, whaley mj, bassira i, seidou i, diarra s, et al. (2016) development of real-time pcr methods for the detection of bacterial meningitis pathogens without dna extraction. plos one 11(2): e0147765. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147765
amara b, boujraf s, benzagmout m, labib s, harandou m. spontaneous pneumorrhachis and transverse myelitis complicating purulent meningitis. j global infect dis [serial online] 2013 [cited 2016 nov 24];5:179-82. available from: http://www.jgid.org/text.asp?2013/5/4/179/122019
http://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-4-21 blockade of nmda receptor subtype nr2b prevents seizures but not apoptosis of dentate gyrus neurons in bacterial meningitis in infant rats by anna kolarova etal.,, bmc neuroscience20034:21 doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-4-21
http://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1741-7007-4-15 gene expression in cortex and hippocampus during acute pneumococcal meningitis by roney s coimbra et al, bmc biology20064:15 doi: 10.1186/1741-7007-4-15
http://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2334-10-232 predicting sequelae and death after bacterial meningitis in childhood: a systematic review of prognostic studies by rogier cj de jonge et al., bmc infectious diseases201010:232 doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-10-232
http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/39/9/1267.full practice guidelines for the management of bacterial meningitis by allan r. tunkel et al., clin infect dis. (2004) 39 (9):1267-1284.doi: 10.1086/425368
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc3002609/ hoffman o, weber rj. pathophysiology and treatment of bacterial meningitis.therapeutic advances in neurological disorders. 2009;2(6):1-7. doi:10.1177/1756285609337975.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa1005384#t=article bacterial meningitis in the united states, 1998–2007 by michael c. thigpen, m.d., et al., n engl j med 2011; 364:2016-2025may 26, 2011doi: 10.1056/nejmoa1005384
Other articles:
http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/neurological/c_dg_meningitis_meningoencephalitis_meningomyelitis meningitis, meningoencephalitis, meningomyelitis in dogs
Other helpful resources(support groups):
http://www.meningitis.org/disease-info/types-causes/pneumococcal meningitis research foundation
http://www.meningitis.org.nz/how_does_bacterial_meningitis_spread the meningitis foundation
https://www.meningitisnow.org/meningitis-explained/what-meningitis/types-and-causes/bacterial-meningitis/ bacterial meningitis
Related videos:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/health-and-medicine/healthcare-misc/v/bacterial-meningitis bacterial meningitis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jeiurfglow bacterial meningitis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1lq4z_tkpo introduction to bacterial meningitis : microbiology lectures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sidmvdcjlo4 neisseria meningitidis and bacterial meningitis : microbiology lectures
Presentations/quiz/newspaper articles:
http://sfaf.org/hiv-info/hot-topics/from-the-experts/the-facts-about-meningitis.html?referrer=https://www.google.co.in/the facts about bacterial meningitis for gay men in san francisco
http://www.nj.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2016/09/post_18.html essex county toddler dies of bacterial meningitis
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/sdut-bacterial-meningitis-kyla-winters-2016mar13-htmlstory.htmlget the vaccine, says meningitis survivor kyla winters
http://www.self.com/story/jennifer-gray-bacterial-meningitis self this 21-year-old died from bacterial meningitis she thought was a hangover
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3832662/my-life-just-beginning-brave-21-year-old-lost-four-limbs-half-skin-bacterial-meningitis-instagram-star-inspiring-thousands-courageous-story.html daily mail my life is just beginning': brave 21-year-old who lost four limbs and over half of her skin to bacterial meningitis becomes instagram star after inspiring thousands with her courageous story
read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3832662/my-life-just-beginning-brave-21-year-old-lost-four-limbs-half-skin-bacterial-meningitis-instagram-star-inspiring-thousands-courageous-story.html#ixzz4rfzxtzjo
follow us: @mailonline on twitter | dailymail on facebook
http://fox59.com/2016/10/19/kindergarten-student-in-lafayette-diagnosed-with-bacterial-meningitis/ fox 59 kindergarten student in lafayette diagnosed with bacterial meningitis
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/trial-of-woman-who-treated-son-with-holistic-medicine-will-reignite-debate-over-alternative-treatments news trial of woman who treated son with holistic medicine will reignite debate over alternative treatments