About Meningitis

Meningitis is an infection which leads to inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. These membranes are known as meninges. There are a few different types of meningitis. The most common meningitis types are viral, which get better on their own. However, bacterial meningitis is serious and requires treatment from a medical professional. Meningitis can be passed through bacteria, a virus, a parasite, or multiple other transmission methods. How severe the case of meningitis is also depends on how it was contracted. One of the more common causes of viral meningitis in the United States recently is from the West Nile virus, which is spread by receiving an infected mosquito bite.

Meningitis Vaccine

A meningitis vaccine is a routine vaccination, given during childhood, which can be obtained from a travel doctor in New York. Most colleges require documentation of a meningitis vaccine for freshmen who will be living in the dorms. The meningitis vaccine is also recommended for adults traveling to meningitis-endemic areas, such as sub-Saharan Africa or Saudi Arabia, as a method of protection if they did not previously receive the meningitis vaccine.

Meningitis Symptoms

Meningitis symptoms can appear quickly. The symptoms can also appear flu-like, in addition to mental status changes or decreased consciousness, rapid breathing or unusual posture.  Meningitis symptoms will appear the same whether it is viral or bacterial, so it is critical to seek medical attention from a travel doctor in New York if you think you have been exposed. A travel doctor in New York will perform a complete workup; the symptoms that will point to meningitis include a fast heart rate, fever, stiff neck and changes in mental status. In order to diagnose meningitis, a lumbar puncture will be performed to test the spinal fluid. Blood cultures can also determine whether or not a diagnosis of meningitis is appropriate.

Meningitis Treatment

Travel medicine in New York is highly advanced, so if caught early, meningitis should be curable. However, meningitis can be deadly, and there is only so much that travel medicine in New York or anywhere else can do. If untreated, it is almost always fatal, so it is important to seek out a travel doctor in New York for meningitis treatment as soon as symptoms begin to manifest themselves.

Meningitis treatment includes antibiotics to cure the bacterial infection; which type depends on which bacterium is present. Viral meningitis, the less serious case, typically clears up after about two weeks. Other methods of meningitis treatment include hospital stays in order to provide medication and fluids intravenously as well as treatment for brain swelling, shock or seizures.