Essay on Bacterial Meningitis

Neisseria meningitidis, also known as meningococcus, is a human pathogen that causes severe infections in the menings that surround the brain and spinal cord. There is a 50% fatality rate if the infections are not treated on time. (1)

Imagine the bacteria as robbers trying to invade a house, the body in this analogy. The immune system is the police officers in charge of the house, and the meninges are the alarms around the point of the house that the robbers want to come in through. The robbers trick the police officers into helping them rob the house. The robbers used the police officers, originally intended to do good.

When inflammation occurs, the barrier becomes more permeable. The bacteria invade the respiratory passages and are disseminated by the bloodstream to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) space and the meninges of the brain and spinal cord. A gathering of fluid damages the cranial nerves, destroys cerebral spinal fluid pathways, and induces vein

      Symptoms of meningitis are similar to those of the flu and are therefore easy to overlook. People with meningitis complain of symptoms such as headaches, fevers, stiff necks, extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting and extreme sensitivity to light. Some people develop a rash. Meningitis, if left untreated can spread quickly. It can spread throughout your entire body, and eventually lead to death within mere days, hours, of getting infected. It is important to seek treatment as soon as you think you might have Meningitis.

Meningitis is a serious infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord. It is caused by meningococcal disease, which is contracted by 1,000 to 2,600 people yearly in the United States. Meningococcal disease is also serious, with one in ten cases leading to

Meningitis and encephalitis are infections that affect the brain. The two differences between them is observed in the region of the brain they infect. Both infections cause inflammation and swelling of the brain and can trigger serious effects or even death.

Meningitis can be destructive without proper understanding of what it is caused by. There are three types of meningitis- bacterial, fungal, and viral. Contrasting factors tend to arise during a comparison of them. One of the most notable areas that viral, fungal and bacterial meningitis differ in are their treatment ability. However, they have the same general affects on the human body. In any case, there are tests that doctors can utilize in order to discover if the meningitis is bacterial, fungal, or viral.

First, the patient would have a fever, headache, or vomiting just as the flu. Then, he would think that it is just the flu and treat it that way according to his previous knowledge. After that, the symptoms and the disease are going to get worse, more severe, and more developed because of the ignorance and the lack of awareness about the only sign that differs meningitis and flu from each other. However, the patient at this moment would go to the doctor seeking the treatment, but it is too late (1). Also, some students ignore the meningitis vaccines and in light of this fact the chances of getting meningitis are high. “Up to a quarter of students carry the bacteria that can cause meningitis compared to one in ten of the general population." (2). Stress also play a critical role besides these two affecters on the chances of getting

N. meningitides specifically is carried in nasal mucosa and secretions and concentrates in the nasopharynx of those it will infect (Smeltzer, Bare, Hinkle, & Cheever, 2010). Once the offending bacteria reach the central nervous system (CNS), it replicates and undergoes lysis, which releases endotoxins (Porth & Matfin, 2009). These cell

Meningitis is a disease that affects the meninges, a membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal

There are many things in life that aren’t good for people’s health and that can cause for many human beings to die. Cancer of any kind, AIDS, pneumonia, meningitis and several other diseases or syndromes can be deadly or incurable. Vaccines and antibiotics are there to help people but won’t always cure it for sure to be 100% safe.Meningitis is a severe disease that humans can get at any age,but the symptoms can be different,(Anthony D. Harris, M.D., Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland.) meningitis happens when the membranes,also called meninges are infected that line and protect the fluid,brain,and the spinal cord.The history of meningitis,5 types of meningitis,,symptoms,side effects,and ways to prevent this frightening disease are all true facts but it isn’t something any human would want to have.

Meningitis is the inflammation of the membranes (meninges) caused by viral or bacterial infection. Symptoms of bacterial meningitis include high fever, nausea and vomiting, intense headache, sensitivity to light and muscular rigidity. In severe cases the symptoms include delirium, convulsions, and even death.

Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges, membranes that surround the brain. This can extend as far as infecting the cerebral spinal fluid on top of causing the tissue to swell. Meningitis comes in two major forms; bacterially and virally. However, having bacterial meningitis is much more severe than viral meningitis. There is a lot more danger in having a bacterial infection within the brain than a viral infection within the brain. What makes bacterial meningitis so lethal is that “even when the disease is diagnosed early and adequate treatment is started, 5% to 10% of patients die, typically within 24 to 48 hours after the onset of symptoms. Left untreated, up to 50% of cases may die, (6) or there

Recurrent bacterial meningitis is a relatively rare condition. The estimated incidence is 4–9% of patients with community-acquired bacterial meningitis. Recurrent cases are often associated with craniopharyngeal structural damage caused by previous trauma, surgical procedure, or immunocompromised state.1

Meningococcal disease is a large concern in the medical field because it is unbiased towards the patients it infects. There has been limited success in trying to eliminate this disease. Antibiotics play a role in helping to treat patients with bacterial meningitis, and steroids have been tested to help reduce risk factors. Prevention has also become a key issue because meningitis can only be spread through direct contact with infected body fluid. The best prevention is to maintain clean hygiene. Vaccines are another way of preventing disease. However, there are multiple serogroups of meningitis that makes creating a universal vaccine extremely difficult. So far, there have only been two