Meningitis: Symptoms and Complications
What are the symptoms of meningitis?
All meningitis is defined from the clinical standpoint, the presence of a meningeal syndrome, characterized by a series of signs and symptoms:
- The most important manifestation of meningitis is headache, usually affecting the entire head, although some patients may notice more discomfort in the back, is very intense and is often accompanied by sensitivity to light and noise.
- Patients with meningitis usually have vomiting that are not related to digestion, usually preceded by nausea, and often run parallel to the severity of the headache.
- The fever is usually very high and is often accompanied by chills previous, but this symptom may not appear in older people.
- The so-called signs of meningeal irritation help the doctor in his diagnosis of meningitis, the main sign is the stiff neck that is stiff when the patient tries to touch your chin to your chest. This movement is very painful and the patient can not perform.
- In addition to these, there may be some decrease in level of consciousness, patients respond vaguely to our orders, or do not know their names or where they are. It can also produce seizures or other symptoms.
What complications may have meningitis?
The evolution of meningitis depends on several factors:
- The time it takes to receive special treatment from the onset of the disease (the longer the delay, the greater the potential complications).
- The age of the patient, the prognosis worse in children and the elderly.
- The possible associated diseases in the same patient as in patients with multiple diseases, the prognosis is more serious.
- The germ inflammation producer (there are more aggressive pathogens) meningeal, and virulence of them.
Thus, the evolution of the disease can range from complete cure, as usual, until the swelling of brain structures (encephalitis) or even the death of the patient.
credit to: Dr. Pedro Gargantilla Madera, Dra. Gillian Rice