Meningitis

Thomas Edison (survived), the great composer Johan Strauss (died), Helen Keller (survived)...and many more!

it is inflamation around the spinal cord and brain that destroys the nervous system

The bacteria are spread through the exchange of respiratory and throat secretions (i.e., coughing, kissing). I had viral spinal meningitis as a young woman. I was told there are eight types of meningitis-- four types of viral and four types of bacterial. My doctor thought I had been bitten by a mosquito. Though I was not quarentined, to be safe I was given a private room in the hospitol. Others were allowed in without hazmat suits. Wheras bacterial is treatable with antibiotics, it 's onset is so immediate that often it can be too late. Viral meningitis has no treatment and the recovery takes months but is likely.

middle layer of meninges is called arachnoid

The viruses that cause meningitis are mostly transmitted though touch. The bacteria that cause meningitis are mostly the same, but some can be aerosolized through a cough or sneeze into the air around them.

pia and arachnoid

The dura mater [Latin: 'tough mother'] (also rarely called meninx fibrosa or pachymeninx) is a thick, durable membrane, closest to the skull. It consists of two layers, the periosteal layer which lies closest to the calvaria, and the inner meningeal layer which lies closer to the brain. It contains larger blood vessels which split into the capillaries in the pia mater. It is composed of dense fibrous tissue, and its inner surface is covered by flattened cells like those present on the surfaces of the pia mater and arachnoid. The dura mater is a sac which envelops the arachnoid and has been modified to serve several functions. The dura mater surrounds and supports the large venous channels (dural sinuses) carrying blood from the brain toward the heart.

It caused extreme pain in the neck first. She also had headaches which she described as 'like a candle (going up her back)with a flame (inside her head) . The head aches were not initially like this but one afternoon she went to sleep and woke up saying the pain in her head had changed. You don't necessarily develop a rash but she did, eventually, only on her torso which soon disappeared. She became increasingly gradually not herself ; worrying about things that would not previously have worried her. She lost her ability to understand even very simple maths, she stopped reading newspapers because she misunderstood things and was upset by what she thought it meant. We did not understand what was happening - she gradually became more confused.

The neck pain was so severe she was admitted to hospital overnight twice and given morphine . The pain continued a long time and she definitely shoud have had stronger medication again but she was scared of hospital and morphine. She was not diagnosed at this stage. In fact despite our desperate trips to doctors she was not diagnosed till 11 days before she died. I think the neck pain was replaced by headaches.

Other symptoms she described included at one stage not being able to lift her legs up and feeling dizzy and collapsing- though I'm not sure if that was caused by meningitis or not eating - as all food tasted disgusting, she said. We found out later that this was because that part of her brain had been damaged.

So in answer to your question, what does Meningitis do? It kills you - over about 3 months, eventually she appeared to feel no pain - at least from her facial expressions we thought she didn't - she was too weak to speak or swallow then she died.

You get meningitis from sharing drinks with other people, if they have it. It can be deadly too.

But there is a shot for it, and then you can't get it. it is very very very very very very deadly so dont share drinks with other people

Meningitis was first described in the 1020s in Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine, and again more accurately by Avenzoar of al-Andalus in the 12th century. Symptoms of the disease were also noted in 1805 by the Swiss Gabinetto Vieusseux (a scientific-literary association) during an outbreak in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1887, Dr. Anton Weichselbaum (1845-1920) of Vienna became the first to isolate the specific germ, meningococcus.

because it does

Well it depends on whether the disease is viral meningitis or bacterial meningitis, if Bacterial then no vaccine is needed but immediate iv antibiotics is recommended after more serious symptoms are shown. There are a variety of viral vaccines, the most common virus to attack the meninges are enteroviruses, herpes, mumps, measles and arboviruses, and cause them to inflame, so really there is no one vaccine for meningitis and viral meningitis can not be cured, at least not with today's technology, but there has been work within a company Poly-Technologies International, that has been working on a new nano-technology that may be able to repair the meninges. Their work is extremely experimental and won't be truly test ready for a few years. So the only true way to prevent meningitis in the viral capacity is to stay away from mosquitos, and to keep up with you vaccines.

phot

ORLY?

Meningitis is usually found near a person's brain and spinal chord. If not treated correctly, it could lead to permanent brain damage or even death.

ICD-9-CM diagnosis code is 320.3 (Staphylococcal meningitis)

Viral meningitis has no set shape. There are a variety of viruses that can cause viral meningitis, all a different shape.

The middle element of the meninges is the arachnoid membrane

Yes, generalized body weakness can occurs with viral meningitis.

dura mater

The dura mater , or pachymeninx, is the tough and inflexible outermost of the three layers of the meninges surrounding the brain and spinal cord....

No, it's normal to experience some pain a few days after the injection.

Similarly, debilitated elderly patients may not have fever or other identifiable symptoms of meningitis.