Symptoms of viral meningitis in children, which every parent should know

Meningitis is a disease that can be a complication of some diseases - viral, bacterial or fungal, but can also develop as an independent pathology. Symptoms of viral meningitis in children most often appear during or after trips to the sea, from June to September, and they can manifest when a child with insufficiently strong immunity and / or diseases of the central nervous system suffers from chicken pox, measles, Rubella, mumps, colds. Parents need to be particularly wary about checking the symptoms of viral meningitis in children every time the offspring is 1-1.5 years old, especially if the child loves communicating with children, exchanging toys with them or just visiting a nursery or kindergarten.

How can you get viral meningitis?

The virus can get to the child or adult by any known route: airborne, domestic, contact, through dirty hands or even when bitten by some insects. A very large number of these microbes can potentially cause meningitis, but this does not necessarily happen - it all depends on the immune defense.

So, enteroviruses that caused outbreaks of meningitis in kindergartens and summer camps are transmitted by airborne droplets, and also through sea, not boiled drinking water or milk, when using shared dishes or toys (that is, a healthy child swallows a virus that was on the subject Life). In the same way, you can "catch" and chickenpox, measles, mumps, rubella, which can be complicated by meningitis.

The most dangerous viruses - herpes simplex, Epstein-Barr, cytomegalovirus - are able to be transmitted by airborne and by sexual route, and through the placenta, and through common toys and dishes. These same viruses can infect a child if the contents of the rash bubble accidentally get onto his skin.

Adults, too, are ill with viral meningitis, only it happens at times less often: for several decades of life, immunity already has time to get acquainted with not one dozen viruses and the results of their natural mutations, and it does not allow the microbe to reach the "desired" cerebral casing. An adult gets sick only when he or she went to the habitat zone of atypical viruses, or another person - a patient or a carrier - came from another country (region) and brought with him several unfamiliar strains of the microbe.

Symptoms of viral meningitis in children

A disease caused by any virus begins, usually with such manifestations as a runny nose, coughing, a feeling of discomfort in the throat, a feeling of aches in the joints and muscles. In addition, a different kind of rash may appear. The body temperature can rise or remain normal. The child will behave very actively or, on the contrary, get tired faster and do not show usual gaiety - it all depends on the type of the virus and the initial condition of the baby.

The next step is when the virus has overcome the cellular barrier that protects the brain. This is meningitis. Symptoms of it are:

1. The body temperature usually rises to high figures.
2. The child begins to complain that his head hurts. At the same time, he can show the whole head, say that it hurts some specific area, for example, whiskey. This pain itself is very strong, it can wake up at night. She is temporarily removed with anesthetic drugs. Rising and sitting strengthen the headache, like loud sounds, bright light. Parents may notice that the child is lying more, trying to create a semi-dark room, does not include your favorite music and almost does not use a computer.
3. Nausea and vomiting appear. Vomiting can be one- or two-fold, while you know for sure that nothing "suspicious" was given to food, and besides, the belly does not hurt the child, there is no diarrhea. After vomiting does not become easier.
4. There is drowsiness, lethargy against the background of increased body temperature and headache.
5. A stronger touch (for example, stroking) is felt as considerable discomfort.
6. There may be dizziness.
7. Cramps are possible (a dangerous symptom).
8. There is strabismus, loss of sensation, decreased hearing or vision, unsteadiness of gait, which complement the symptoms of viral meningitis in children described above. We need to go to the hospital right now, because not only the brain shell suffers, but he himself suffers as well.
9. Supplement the meningitis (symptoms in children) rash can. In viral meningitis, it resembles the one that occurs with chicken pox, with rubella or measles, if the inflammation of the membranes of the brain has become a complication of these diseases. For enteroviral meningitis is characterized by a small-dot red rash.

What signs of an ailment can a doctor check if he suspects meningitis?

1. Rigidity of the occiput muscles: when lying down, the adult puts his hand under the child's head and bends his neck so that his chin reaches the sternum. If there is a meningitis, there is free space between the chin and the sternum. An important condition: this symptom should not be checked at a high body temperature in the patient, since the symptom may be false positive.
2. There is another possibility to check meningitis (symptoms in children). Photos of the signs that are checked with the flexion-extension of both legs alternately are presented in the article:

• If the leg is bent in the hip and knee joint, it becomes impossible to unbend the leg in the knee;
• If you bend the leg in the same way, then when you try to unbend it in the knee, the second leg is bent and pulled to the stomach;
• When checking the rigidity of the muscles of the occiput, both legs are involuntarily pulled to the stomach.

The diagnosis is based only on the results of lumbar puncture. Therefore, if only one or two symptoms are determined, the doctor will decide to make a lumbar puncture immediately. However, he can wait a few hours, while doing anti-inflammatory therapy, and then again assess the severity of the symptoms.