Any disease is better to prevent than to cure. This also applies to meningitis, which is a deadly disease and can be caused by many bacteria and viruses. Moreover, each of these microbes is able to enter the body in different ways.
Who should be particularly concerned about meningitis?
Any person can get meningitis, it is enough to get into his body a very aggressive microbe that has the ability to penetrate through protective barriers directly to the membranes of the brain. Here's who's at risk:
- Children with congenital immune defects or infected with HIV.
- Children who, during pregnancy or childbirth, had a violation of the formation or developed a disease of the central nervous system (cerebral palsy, posthypoxic cysts in the brain, intrauterine cytomegalovirus or Epstein-Barr infection).
- Elderly people with impaired blood supply to the brain and weakened immune systems are also at risk of this disease.
- Young people, namely:
- athletes who get injured all the timeheads;
- people who often suffer from diseases of the ear, throat, nose;
- those who underwent plastic surgery on the bones of the skull;
- People who have a constant flow of cerebrospinal fluid from the nose or ear.
All these categories are "favorites" of such a disease as meningitis. Prevention of the disease concerns them in the first place. But in order to prevent the disease with the maximum probability, you need to know what causes it to develop.
Where does meningitis come from?
Disease can be caused by various microbes: viruses, fungi, protozoa, bacteria, association of microbes. The concept of "meningitis virus" in medicine does not exist, since many viruses are potentially capable of causing this pathology.
Viral meningitis can develop as a complication of common infections: SARS, "childhood diseases" such as measles, mumps, chicken pox, rubella, herpes infection. It can also be primary - when enteroviruses, herpes viruses enter the body.
Bacterial meningitis can be caused by:
- meningococcus, which "flies" in the air, from a patient with meningococcal nasopharyngitis (flows like a normal ARVI), a carrier of meningococcus or a person who develops a generalized form of infection - meningococcal sepsis or meningoencephalitis;
- pneumococcus, which most often penetrates from the "sick" ear, throat, nose, lungs, but can also be brought in by airborne droplets;
- Haemophilus influenzae, which can be transmittedby airborne droplets;
- other bacteria that most often enter the meninges with otitis media, sinusitis, pneumonia, sepsis; can be brought in with a penetrating wound.
It follows that in order to prevent a disease like meningitis, prevention must be versatile:
- taking into account the ways in which the microbe enters and its properties (non-specific);
- the one that consists in taking special preparations - vaccines (specific).
The first type of prevention should be observed by everyone, especially its rules are important to instill in children. The second type is agreed with the infectious disease doctor in each case.
Meningitis: non-specific prevention
This is the observance of the rules of personal hygiene, washing hands, a ban on the use of common towels, washcloths, common utensils in groups. Enteroviral meningitis can be obtained by drinking unboiled water or milk, less often (mainly in children) by unwashed hands and by sharing towels
You can partially protect yourself from adenovirus and many other meningitis if you dress for the weather, temper yourself, do not have close contact with people who cough or sneeze, just look sick (with reddened eyes, complain of malaise or fever). It must be borne in mind that a cold that occurs without snot and cough is also contagious. Therefore, if you are not sure that you are he althy, wear a mask at home, which should be changed every 3-4 hours.
Prevention of bacterial meningitis lies in the fact that it is necessary to treat otitis media, sinusitis, other sinusitis, carious teeth, pneumonia, and other infections in time.
Meningitis: specific prevention
It is about vaccination. Scheduled vaccinations are provided for many diseases: against rubella, mumps, measles, hemophilic infection. There are also unscheduled vaccinations, for example, against pneumococcal or meningococcal infections, the need for which is decided by the parents in relation to the child individually. Such prophylaxis of meningitis in children may be necessary in the following cases:
- for immunocompromised children;
- if the spleen was removed;
- if the child will be in a boarding school, live in a hostel;
- for children with congenital or acquired CNS pathologies before going to kindergarten or school.
Such vaccinations are given every three to four years, the advisability of their implementation and possible complications and contraindications must first be consulted with an infectious disease specialist.
