Meningits

Meningits What is meningitis' Meningitis is an infection of the tissues (meninges) and sometimes the fluid (cerebral spinal fluid, or CSF) that surrounds the brain and spinal cord results in swelling of the brain tissue and in some cases the spinal tissue. When brain tissue swells, less blood and oxygen reach brain cells. The infection occurs most often in infants, young adults between the ages of 15 and 24, older adults, and people who have a long-standing health condition, such as a weakened immune system. Meningitis can range from mild to life threatening. The severity usually depends on the organism causing the infection and a person's age and overall health. What causes meningitis' Meningitis is usually caused by viruses or bacteria such as Neisseria meningitidis (also called meningococcus) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus). In rare cases, fungi, parasites, tuberculosis, or the organisms that cause syphilis and Lyme disease can cause meningitis. The infection also can develop as a complication of another illness, an injury, or brain surgery. On very rare occasions, some medications can cause meningitis, including carbamazepine (Tegretol), co-trimoxazole (Bactrim, Septra, TMP-SMX), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such as ibuprofen and naproxen), levamisole (Ergamisol), metronidazole (Flagyl), immune globulin, and the mumps and rubella vaccines. Sometimes the meningitis, people, cause, children, infection, illness, fever, bacteria, risk, bacterial, age, complications, treatment, symptoms, health, develop, viruses, organisms, often, medical, vaccine, need, caused, brain, adults, person, include, during, antibiotics, viral, treated, medications, given, disease, through, severe