What Causes Meningitis In Children?
What Causes Meningitis in Children? Viruses, Bacteria, and Fungal Infections!
Find out what causes meningitis and how to treat it.
In addition, find out how to avoid CT scans! Here are some symptoms to watch out for.
In addition, read on to find out how to deal with the symptoms of meningitis in children.
Hopefully, this article will answer your question!
Viruses
Viruses cause meningitis, but if your child has this condition, you should seek medical treatment as soon as possible.
Children who have weak immune systems and those on immune-suppressing medications are at greater risk. The most common causes are bacterial and viral infections.
Both types of meningitis can lead to long-term complications.
Children with bacterial meningitis may have difficulty hearing, difficulty with their reflexes, or even seizures.
A doctor should prescribe antibiotics for these symptoms.
Antibiotics aren’t very effective against bacterial and viral infections, so you need to seek medical attention if your child develops meningitis.
Antibiotics can reduce the symptoms of meningitis and may be ineffective. In most cases, meningitis in children will clear up without medical treatment, but you should seek prompt medical attention if you suspect your child has this illness.
Bacteria
While most cases of meningitis are caused by viruses, bacterial meningitis is a different story.
Though viral meningitis can be dangerous, it rarely requires antibiotics.
Herpes simplex virus, for example, can cause meningitis, but the condition is not life-threatening.
It is a relatively uncommon cause of meningitis in children. Fortunately, bacterial meningitis is treatable, and vaccines can prevent it.
While bacterial meningitis is most common in infants, adults with certain risk factors are also susceptible.
These risk factors include alcohol abuse, chronic nose, and ear infections, head injuries, and pneumococcal pneumonia.
People with compromised immune systems also increase their risk of contracting the disease.
While there is no known cure for this infection, it is highly treatable. It can also be prevented through proper hygiene.
Fungal infection
A fungal infection can lead to meningitis in children. Symptoms of fungal meningitis include intense inflammation of the meninges, accumulation of exudates, and opacification of the lepto-meninges.
Some patients develop cranial neurovascular syndromes, such as multiple cerebral aneurysms. The diagnosis of fungal meningitis should be made early because the mortality rate is high.
There are two types of fungal meningitis: acute fungal meningitis and chronic fungal meningitis.
Acute fungal meningitis is unusual and usually occurs in immunocompromised individuals, while chronic fungal meningitis is fairly common.
Acute fungal meningitis typically presents with headaches, nausea, vomiting, and fever, and can be associated with seizures.
Children with this infection also often have elevated ICP and focal or generalized neurologic deficits.
The fungus, or pseudomycetes, passes through the blood-CSF barrier and causes meningitis.
CT scans
CT scans for suspected meningitis are routinely ordered before lumbar puncture, but the study found that this practice does not reduce the risk of herniation and prolongs the course of treatment.
The study aimed to determine the incidence of abnormalities in children with suspected meningitis, as well as the conditions that lead to abnormalities.
The study examined 86 children, excluding those with no previous diagnosis of meningitis.
Of these 86 patients, 94.2% of CT scans showed no abnormalities, and only a small percentage of them had suspected meningitis.
The study included 116 cases of suspected meningitis, 55.2% of which were male.
The most common age group was five to nine years, while the second-largest was under five years.
Of the 101 children with meningitis, 86 cases were examined by CT scan before lumbar puncture.
Six of these cases showed abnormal scans, whereas 100 patients underwent LP.
In the majority of cases, CSF studies indicated aseptic meningitis, while bacterial meningitis was found in ten cases.
In addition, six patients with suspected meningitis underwent CT scans.
Herpes simplex virus
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection can lead to serious complications, including meningitis, and can be fatal.
Symptoms of a herpes infection should be noted and reported to a doctor as soon as possible.
Keeping this information handy will facilitate your doctor’s diagnosis, and help you get treatment sooner.
Here are a few signs that your child may have a herpes virus infection.
As the name suggests, the herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a member of the Herpesviridae family.
It is the most common cause of human viral disease.
Meningitis is a complication of HSV primary infection.
Researchers collected cerebrospinal fluid from 45 children displaying symptoms of meningitis.
Samples were analyzed for viral, biochemical, and cytology tests. DNA was extracted from the samples for PCR.
