Meningitis: signs in children, incubation period, types of disease

Meningitis is a disease that occurs most often in childhood, when infection (virus, bacteria, fungus) is most easily overcome by the protective barriers that protect the brain, to provoke the onset of inflammation on the very closest shell to it. More often the disease occurs in children born with the pathology of the brain (hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy, intrauterine brain damage with cytomegalovirus or Epstein-Barr virus), as well as in prematurity. Babies who have a birth defect of any of the immunity units also have a much greater chance of suffering meningitis. Symptoms of Children of this disease have some differences (compared with adults).

Where does meningitis come from?

The disease in a child can develop as a complication of purulent otitis, rhinitis, sinusitis, sinusitis (secondary meningitis, the signs of which children should be carefully monitored if the child suffers such a disease). There is a variant of the development of meningitis as complications of viral diseases, such as measles, SARS, chicken pox, rubella, mumps, enterovirus infection. The most dangerous is meningococcal meningitis, which can be infected:

- from the carrier of the microbe (that is, the person who feels healthy);

- from an adult or a child who carries meningococcal nasopharyngitis (red throat and purulent discharge from the nose, accompanied by a rise in temperature for 1-3 days);

- from a patient whose bacterium has caused inflammation of the brain membrane.

The most dangerous is this meningitis. The incubation period of it is 2-3 days. Then there are symptoms, one of the characteristic signs of which is hemorrhagic rash, described below.

How does meningitis appear in children?

Children, like adults, can say that they have a headache. Also, parents notice that the child has fever. But if the baby is not talking yet, how can you suspect meningitis? Signs in children of this disease are:

1. The child becomes more sluggish, sleepy.

2. Vomiting may occur, regardless of the meal.

3. Increased body temperature.

4. Babies can be seen swelling of the large fontanelle (in norm it is located on one level with the bones of the skull).

5. A child takes an extended posture in bed, often tilting his head.

6. Negatively reacts to bright light, loud sounds, music.

7. Refuses to eat, sleepy.

8. There may be convulsions with a violation of consciousness and stopping breathing at any (even up to 38 degrees) body temperature.

9. If you raise the baby for the armpits, he will pull the legs to his chest.

10. With meningococcal and some other meningitis on the body (primarily on the buttocks and legs), a rash appears in dark color. It can be lilac, brown, dark red. Its characteristic feature is that if you press on the stain with a transparent container (glass, jar) or glass, it does not turn pale. This means that the skin in this place was soaked with blood.

A rash with such characteristics acquires a tendency to merge with each other, as well as to the appearance in some places of necrosis (necrosis) of the skin and underlying tissues.

In case you see any suspicious rash, especially against the background of fever, urgently call an ambulance. Even if it is not meningitis, signs in children of a nature such as a rash are a reason for hospitalization and treatment in an infectious hospital.