Reactive meningitis, its symptoms, causes and treatment

Reactive meningitis is an acute infectious disease that affects the membranes of the brain, or spinal cord. Diseases can be affected by people of any age, but most often these are newborns premature babies and patients who have head, back injuries, and various disorders of the nervous system.

Reactive meningitis has its own peculiarity. The disease comes unexpectedly, spontaneously. In this form, the meningitis clinic is difficult, violent and fleeting.

Reactive meningitis is in fact one of the most dangerous and serious forms of infection. The clinical picture of the disease is extremely fleeting, it is often called fulminant. Medical care for the patient should be urgent, urgent, as he has a lot of purulent foci in the brain area, a person can fall into a coma and die. The consequences of reactive meningitis will not be so severe if the doctors start treatment for the first 24 hours, however, and they are a threat to human life. With this disease, it is very important to conduct timely diagnosis on the basis of taking a lumbar puncture.

Reactive meningitis, causes

The causative agent of this infectious disease is, as a rule, a meningococcal rod. Transmission of a viral infection occurs usually by airborne droplets, from the carrier of infection - a sick person. The source of infection can be found in almost any public place: in the polyclinic, in the store, and when traveling in public transport. Meningitis can lead to an epidemiological situation among children who attend kindergartens and collective activities.

The cause of meningitis is meningococcal bacillus, and also it can be enterovirus infection, or other various viruses. Such diseases as parotitis, rubella, measles - can also trigger the development of the disease. Patients who are sick with otitis (in acute or chronic form), sinusitis, suffering from lung abscesses, patients with a lot of furuncles on face and neck and other, and other diseases are at risk.

Reactive meningitis, symptoms  

Reactive meningitis manifests itself in the following symptoms: high body temperature (up to 40 degrees), prolonged febrile state, lasting for several days. The patient thus experiences sharp pains in a throat, often there are attacks of a vomiting, there can be a rigidity of occipital muscles. When the disease is at an early stage, many of these symptoms are confused with manifestations of respiratory diseases, but the disease with reactive meningitis is very fleeting. Disturbances occur in the eye, facial muscles, sometimes partial paralysis and deafness develops.

Treatment of the disease

Treatment of this disease is immediately carried out in the departments of the hospital. Complex treatment is prescribed, antibiotic therapy, corticosteroids and maintenance therapy are performed. When conducting a timely diagnosis and properly prescribed treatment, you can cope with meningitis. The death rate from this disease is about ten percent of the total number of cases of morbidity.

The implementation of antibacterial therapy is based on the empirical use of therapeutic drugs, since it is not always possible to determine with accuracy the nature of the causative agent of the disease. To prevent the multiplication of viruses in the body in the future and to destroy all possible causative agents of the disease, the doctor prescribes this or that antibiotic. Antibiotic treatment depends on the patient's condition and the characteristics of his illness.

The percentage of deaths, unfortunately, increases significantly, with late diagnosis of reactive meningitis, and also if patients are elderly, weakened people or children.