Meningitis causative agents can be various bacteria (pneumococcus, meningococcus, hemophilic infection, staphylococcus), viruses (enterovirus and epidemic mumps), helminths and mushrooms of candidate.
Most often, the disease is carried by airborne droplets, through drops of infected mucus, which spread from the nasopharynx of the sick.
Infection, penetrating the blood and a skull, causes inflammation of the shells of the brain. More often with meningitis, children who suffer from sinusitis and otitis media, as well as those who suffered a traumatic brain injury, get sick.
Signs and symptoms of the disease are as follows:
– Body temperature rises significantly.
– Headaches (the baby cannot bend the head in such a way as to get the breast chin). Nausea and vomiting.
– An unpleasant sensation in the neck and back, which intensify when the head moves.
– Convulsions that can be different in duration.
– Bright light annoyed loud sounds.
– The pose of the patient – the head is thrown back, and the legs and arms are bent.
– The appearance of various rash against the background of an increase in temperature.
Ambulance doctors rarely immediately make an accurate diagnosis. So, if they suspect meningitis, you will have to go to an infectious diseases hospital. Here the baby will undergo a special examination: bruise of blood, bacteric nasopharyngeal mucus to identify meningococcus and establish its appearance, a general blood test.
In addition to these tests, it is necessary to make a spinal puncture that will help to make an accurate diagnosis and alleviate the condition of the baby. With the help of such a study, not only the pathogen is revealed, but also headache decreases, intracranial pressure decreases. You can read about the possible consequences of meningitis on Skalpil.
Many have heard about the dangers of puncture and abandon it. So in no case should not be done. The piercing of the spinal canal is made between the lumbar vertebrae in the place where no nerve trunks leave the spinal cord. So after the complications procedure should not be.
Often that during a puncture to the child, antibiotics of the penicillin row are introduced. This course continues for no more than 5 – 7 days. But this is not the only drug to help defeat meningitis. With the disease, therapy is indicated, so it is not surprising if the doctor prescribes 4-5 or more drugs. In addition to antibiotics, you will have to take suspensions, drops and various tablets that eliminate nausea and vomiting, reduce intracranial pressure, resume the work of blood vessels and nerve cells, and provide anti -inflammatory therapy. The injections for which the baby need to be prepared can also be prescribed by telling about the importance of such oolcers.
Meningitis treatment lasts about a month. But after recovery and discharge for another year, you need to be careful and regularly visit your doctor.