Meningitis means inflammation of the membranes of the brain. The cause of the disease can be viruses, bacteria and fungi, so meningitis can manifest itself in different ways. On how to recognize the disease at an initial stage and on time to seek medical help, we will tell in this article.
The first signs of meningitis in children
Regardless of the pathogen, the symptoms of meningitis in children are very similar. The disease is characterized by the presence of common infectious signs, which can be present in other diseases. The disease begins with a fever, and an increase in body temperature with meningitis can reach 39-40 ° C, which is accompanied by a headache of a bursting nature. Children become lethargic, or, on the contrary, excessively excitable. When meningitis is observed, muscle pain and multiple vomiting.
You can determine meningitis by several specific symptoms, such as: the appearance of pink spots on the first day of the disease. Rash with meningitis spreads throughout the body and is characterized by the presence of small blood points. When meningitis there is an excessive tone of the occipital muscles - the child can not bend the neck so that his chin reaches the breast. Also, the muscles of the extremities are sinking. To identify this symptom, the patient is placed on his back and the leg is bent at right angles to the hip and knee joint. When unbending the leg, it is impossible to unbend the leg in the knee. In children of the first year of life, there is a bulging of the large fontanel and tilting of the head.
Harmful viral and deadly bacterial meningitis have the same symptoms, so at the first sign, immediately call an ambulance. Diagnosis of meningitis should be performed only by a doctor, taking a spinal tap.
Viral meningitis in children
Viral menigitas occur most frequently and in most cases are caused by enteroviruses (Coxsackie virus and ECHO), less often by the viruses of mumps, herpes, mononucleosis or tick-borne encephalitis. Infection occurs by contact with sick people and ingestion of their discharge from the mouth, nose, anus into the nose and mouth. Viruses penetrate first into the nasopharynx and intestine, and then into the blood. According to the doctors, being with a sick person is quite safe, while carefully following the rules of personal hygiene. The disease mainly affects people who are genetically addicted to meningitis.
To date, doctors have completely dispelled the myth that meningitis can get sick from hypothermia. Also, you can not get meningitis from the fact that in the cold season you do not have to wear a hat - infection always occurs in a warm room.
Viral meningitis is also called serous meningitis (aseptic), the symptoms of which in children are similar to a severe cold. The disease lasts about a week and passes like all viral diseases by itself, without requiring special treatment.
Bacterial meningitis in children
Bacterial (purulent) meningitis is caused by bacteria (hemophilic rod, pneumococcus, meningococcus). Pathogens are transmitted by airborne droplets through the mucous membranes of throat and nasopharynx. These pathogens can be present in the nasopharynx of a healthy person and do not harm anything, but sometimes they infect the brain for no apparent reason or under the influence of some factors:
- presence of foci of infection near the membranes of the brain - sinusitis, purulent otitis;
- suppurative inflammation in the body, in which the pathogen enters the bloodstream - pneumonia, sore throat, abscess;
- craniocerebral trauma, when microbes penetrate the membranes of the brain with blood flow;
- birth defects of the immune system.
Bacterial meningitis is a very dangerous disease that requires immediate medical attention. To date, the main measure of prophylaxis against bacterial meningitis is vaccination.