Health Advice An answer to your medical questions » Meningitis

Meningitis Vaccine

Kevin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:35:48 +0000

In this article I will discuss the importance of taking a meningitis vaccine or routine immunization which can prevent meningitis.

Meningitis vaccine
During childhood, young children are vaccinated against bacteria and viruses and microorganisms like pneumococcus, meningococcus, polio, mumps, measles, HIB etc which will serve to protect the individual against meningitis, the risk factor of which is one of these microorganisms.

There are some children who are susceptible to other kinds of bacterial and viral infections and so they need to be immunized or vaccinated against other specific varieties of pneumococcus.
Who is eligible to receive this vaccine?

Physicians/medicos are now of the opinion that 11 year old children are old enough to get vaccinated against meningococcus that can lead to a severe deadly kind of bacterial meningitis. The name of this particular type of vaccine is MCV4 or quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine. There is no problem if the children have crossed 11 years of age and still not received immunization. They can be vaccinated even then.

This vaccine is mandatory if the child is going away to a boarding school or college or to a summer camp or for trekking adventures where there will be a bunch of young guys and girls staying together in close quarters. If any individual is traveling to a country where meningitis outbreaks occur frequently, then also vaccination is a prerequisite.

Apart from vaccination, another way of preventing meningitis is by maintaining good hygiene like washing hands, not sharing utensils, drinks , food items with a person suffering from meningitis, keeping the toilet clean, covering the mouth while coughing or sneezing, not leaving nasal or throat discharge lying open on the roads or public places etc.

Meningococcal meningitis vaccine
This type of meningitis or rather certain groups of it can be prevented through the vaccine – meningococcal polysaccharide. When an individual will receive this vaccine, his body will start manufacturing its own antibodies that will fight the meningococcal meningitis. Groups W 135, Y, C and A of the meningococcal bacteria can be fought with the help of this vaccine. However this vaccine will prove ineffective against group B.

Meningitis Causes

Kevin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:29:49 +0000

There are various causes of meningitis. There are infectious causes and non infectious causes of this disease. Some of the non infectious causes or risk factors of meningitis are malignancies, certain kinds of medication, toxins, rheumatoid arthritis, polyarteritis nodosa, sarcoidosis and SLE and other such systemic diseases.

Causes of meningitis
This kind of meningitis where non infectious agents cause the disease is termed as sterile meningitis due to the isolated presence of nomicro organism in the spinal fluid. Meningitis can be caused by fungi, virus and bacteria. When doctors try to start treatment of meningitis, they have to correctly isolate and identify the cause or source of the infection.

Viral meningitis is more common than bacterial meningitis, but the latter is more deadly and accounts for only 10% of the cases and can result in severe disability thanks to a messed up brain and brain injury in 1 out of 7 survivors.

Causes of bacterial meningitis
Streptococcus pneumoniae or neisseria meningitides has been isolated as one of the leading risk factors of this lethal disease – bacterial meningitis and is confirmed by the occurrence of millions of ear infections every year.

In case of newborns, who are infected with meningitis after birth or during birth, the bacterial meningitis is caused by listeria monocytogenes on the one hand, and at other times by group B streptococci.
However even adults can contract bacterial meningitis through the listeria monocytogenes, and not only infants.

When people have been ill with a long drawn out disease, other kinds of bacteria related to that disease will lead to meningitis. However this happens in rare cases.

Causes of Viral meningitis
Viral meningitis, which is the commoner variety of meningitis, is commonly caused by enteroviruses. This kind of virus dwells silently in the intestine without breaking out into trouble. At times however, during the spreading of infection (for meningitis is contagious) through contaminated objects, water and food from person to person, this virus spreads and causes meningitis.
Mumps and HIV virus can also cause meningitis.

Other causes of meningitis
Sometimes brain surgery, a maxillofacial injury and injury to the skull, the complication of an illness can also culminate in meningitis.

Bacterial Meningitis

Kevin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:21:13 +0000

Bacterial meningitis is one of the two types of meningitis, the other being viral meningitis. Bacterial meningitis is the rarer of the two and accounts for only ten percent of the cases with 1 out of 7 cases turning really fatal and resulting in serious brain injury that can cause disability.

If a patient contracts bacterial meningitis, he or she requires immediate medical intervention, for the disease is deadly.

Causes of bacterial meningitis

As the name suggests, this kind of life threatening meningitis (if treatment is not started immediately) is caused by types of bacteria that can infect the urinary system, the skin, respiratory tract or gastrointestinal tract. As said earlier, the site of the bacterial infection is CSF or cerebro spinal fluid through which the bacteria travels to the meninges via the bloodstream and reaches the brain and spinal cord.

This is because CSF surrounds the brain and circulates in the spinal cord. Sometimes a serious head injury resulting in trauma or a very serious kind of local infection formed, say, in the ears – otitis media (an ear infection) or sinusitis (nasal sinus infection) will result in the bacteria traveling from the sites of these infection to the meanings.

In case of newborn babies, bacterial meningitis is caused by listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli and group B streptococcus usually. When older kids contract bacterial meningitis, the causes can be pinpointed as meningococcus or neisseria meningitidis and pneumococcus or streptococcus pneumoniae.

Those who didn’t take meningitis vaccine during their childhood may contract bacterial meningitis caused by haernophilus influenza type B or HIB. But of course this is very rare now.
Treatment of bacterial meningitis

If your child is down with the symptoms of meningitis which might be mistaken for flu symptoms, he or she requires immediate medical assistance and the doctor will conduct a spinal tap or lumbar puncture test to diagnose whether it is indeed bacterial meningitis.

Through this test a sample of the CSF will be collected and sent for further medical examination.The main medication for bacterial meningitis is IV or intravenous antibiotics which will be started immediately after suspecting the cause.

Meningitis advice

Kevin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:17:39 +0000

Meninges refer to the thin lining that cover or envelop the central nervous system or CNS i.e. the brain and spinal cord. When an inflammation occurs in the meninges, it is referred to as meningitis. The leading causes that contribute to the formation of meningitis are bacteria and virus causing bacterial infection and viral infection respectively.

Often other types of illnesses or diseases and specific kinds of medication lead to the outbreak of meningitis.

Types of meningitis

Meningitis is of two types – viral meningitis and bacterial meningitis. Often two other types of meningitis are spoken of. They are spinal meningitis and meningococcal meningitis. Spinal meningitis is the same as the normal regular meningitis because the meningitis, when it occurs, will strike both the brain and the spinal cord together. They are mutually inclusive and cannot be separated.

Meningococcal meningitis is a type of bacterial meningitis.

Bacterial meningitis is very rare, accounting for only 10% of the cases but it is lethal and can turn deadly if immediate medical assistance is not received. It can cause grievous injury to the brain resulting in disabilities if not properly treated right from the beginning.

Viral meningitis or aseptic meningitis is the commonest type of meningitis accounting for 90% of the cases and it is a mild illness that can be completely cured and there is nothing to worry about. It is difficult to diagnose viral meningitis because the symptoms resemble those of flu and other common illnesses.

Who can get meningitis?

Anyone can get meningitis but it is commonly seen in babies, kids, and those young students who have to go to boarding school or college where a number of students have to live together in close quarters.

Even military recruits living together in barracks are at high risk for contracting meningitis. A pregnant mother during labor and birth can pass on meningitis to her infant.
An individual going to a country where meningitis outbreaks are common can get it if he is not immunized. This proves that meningitis is contagious.

Prevention
The best way to prevent meningitis is through regular immunization program or vaccination and practicing good hygienic habits like washing of hands, keeping the toilet clean, not sharing food or utensils with a meningitis patient etc.