Meningitis a brain disorder?

meningitis it is of two types . i want case study on meningitis . to add to my project report

meningococal meningitis occurs due to a virus and can effect the meninges and spinal cord. in extreme cases it can kill in 6 hours . signs of meningitis are severe headaches, backaches, and vommitings. it is basically an airborne disease .meninges controls the shocks and physical stress too.

It's more like a brain killer...
an easy way to test it is to hold an object in front of the affected person, moving it up and down to see if their eyes will follow it. If it doesn't, then it's definitely meningitis.

meningitis- can be acute pyogenic[bacterial] and parasitic .
acute pyogenic- high grade fever with chills, seizures, severe headache, stiffness of neck and projectile vomiting.
parasitic- occurs in immunocompromised patients and in malnourishment and it runs a chronic course.
it is mainly charaterised by unrecognised headache and recurrent seizures mainly.
AND by the way, previous person has answered that meningococcal meningitis is caused by a virus, which is a blunder, it is caused by a bacteria called neisseria meningitidis.

Technically it's an inflammation of the meninges, which are membranes that line the brain and spinal chord.

You can get several types of meningitis including bacterial, fungal, viral and amoebic.

I attached the links to some stories about it:

What is meningitis?

The brain and the spinal cord are covered by a thin layer called meninges. Meningitis is an infection of the meninges and is caused by a virus or bacterium. Bacterial meningitis (caused by bacteria), can be quite severe and may result in brain damage, hearing loss, or learning disability.

What are the symptoms?

Patients with meningitis suddenly develop fever, headache, and stiffness of the neck. There may also be nausea and vomiting, and the patients may become confused or are difficult to awaken. In severe meningitis, the meningeal infection may subsequently involve the blood vessels which may get blocked. This leads to damage to the part of the brain supplied by those blood vessels and can cause paralysis, fits and symptoms like that. Similarly meningitis can involve the nerves coming out of the brain, resulting in squint, visual failure and face paralysis.

What is the cause?

Bacterial meningitis is of two types 鈥?acute and severe (called pyogenic) or sub-acute chronic. The common causes of the latter are tuberculosis, syphilis or fungus.
The severe form occurs in a community when:

Bacterium H. Influenza, which is common in children reaches the meninges via the blood stream.
Pneumococcus, which comes form the blood after pneumonia or a chest infection, enters the brain.
The organisms are in the throat and often persist for months and then when a new infection with a different form of the micro-organism occurs, it may enter the brain and cause meningitis.

Thus, the organisms enter the brain either through the blood or other infections of the ear, sinus, wounds of the scalp or the face. Another cause of the disease is due to a neurosurgical operation.

How is it diagnosed?

It is very important to determine the cause of meningitis. While children with viral meningitis usually get better without special treatment, bacterial meningitis can be life-threatening. For diagnosis, a lumbar puncture may be required. In this procedure a thin needle is inserted into the spine in the lower back to withdraw a small amount of spinal fluid. This procedure is very safe. By examining the fluid, it can be determined if the meningitis is viral or bacterial. The bacteria can then be cultured and the antibiotics can be modified accordingly.

What is the treatment?

Patients with bacterial meningitis need to be admitted to the hospital. The disease can be treated with a number of effective antibiotics. It is important, however, that treatment be started early in the course of the disease. Appropriate antibiotic treatment should reduce the risk of death to below 15%, although the risk is higher among the elderly.

Usually more than one antibiotic is needed, and these are administered through injections into the veins (intravenous). The antibiotics are required for 7-21 days depending on the bacterium that causes it. For chronic (long term) meningitis, the treatment is much longer, for example, tuberculosis meningitis requires treatment for 9 months or longer. Besides antibiotics, proper nursing care is very important.

Are there any vaccines for the prevention of meningitis?

There are vaccines against certain bacteria which are safe and highly effective. A meningitis cases should be reported to state or local health departments to assure follow-up of close contacts and recognise outbreaks.