What Part of the Brain Does Meningitis Affect?

Meningitis is an infectious disease that causes inflammation of the meninges or membranes that surrounds a person’s brain and also infects cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the spinal cord. Patients with symptoms of this disease should seek prompt medical treatment.

Symptoms

• According to the Mayo Clinic, individuals with meningitis may experience a stiff neck, fever or headaches. Vomiting, confusion and seizures can develop in meningitis patients.

Causes

• Most cases of meningitis are caused by a virus but this disease can also be caused by bacteria or a fungus.

Risk Factors

• People with weakened immune systems, individuals who work with animals and residents of crowded facilities such as dormitories or military bases have a greater risk of contracting meningitis. Children younger than five years of age have a higher risk of getting viral meningitis and people under the age of 25 are at greater risk of developing bacterial meningitis.

Testing

• Doctors may use throat culture tests, spinal taps or imaging tests such as x-rays and computerized tomography scans to diagnose meningitis.

Treatment

• Bacterial meningitis is treated with antibiotics. Viral meningitis that is caused by a herpes virus may be treated with antiviral drugs but most viral cases of this disease clear up on their own in one to two weeks.