What is bacterial meningitis?
Bacterial meningitis is a life -threatening infection observed in membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. People can die of bacterial meningitis within hours, which is decisive to ensure treatment as soon as possible. Many patients have a very good prognosis in rapid treatment. If treatment is delayed, the patient may experience an insult to the brain that leads to the involvement or the patient could die due to infection.
Several bacteria can cause bacterial meningitis. They can exceed a barrier that normally maintains organisms outside the brain due to aggressive sinus and ears or head trauma that creates an open blow. Streptococcus pneumoniae, neisseria meningitidis, and hemophilus influenzae type B were associated with bacterial meningitis. When they enter the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord, it reacts the immune system and causes inflammation.
Trinebyt of symptoms that characterize bacterial meningitis are: headache, stiffneck and fever. The patient may also develop nausea, confusion and fatigue. In very young children, these symptoms are sometimes not so identifiable and the patient may be restless and cheeky instead. Complications of inflammation may include blood clots, stroke and cerebral herniation in which the brain swells and cell death occurs with increasing pressure inside the skull. Patients can develop seizures, go to shock or fall into a coma if they are not treated.
As soon as the doctor identifies bacterial meningitis, intravenous antibiotics are administered. Usually an antibiotic cocktail is used because there is not enough time to find out which organism is responsible. Supporting therapy may be provided to help the patient breathe and deal with complications that may occur, such as surgery to relieve the printing inside the skull. If treatment is successful, the patient can fully recover. Patients who develop cognitiveDeficities due to bacterial meningitis can benefit from physical, speech and other forms of therapy to help them sprang their brains and recover from brain damage.
organisms that cause bacterial meningitis are contagious, but intimate contact is usually required to hand them over from man to humans. People can reduce their risks of development or passing on this dangerous infection regularly washing hands and observing basic hygiene instructions such as coverage of their mouths and noses while sneezing. In addition, there is a vaccine that protects people from some organisms that cause bacterial meningitis, and is often recommended for people who will live in tight neighborhoods such as college tracks and military barracks.