1. What is between meningitis and brain?
What is meningitis? Officially, meningitis refers to a disease in which the meninges or meninges (a layer of the skull) are infected, usually accompanied by complications of bacteria or viruses infecting any part of the body, such as ear or upper respiratory tract infections. Generally speaking, meningitis is a disease caused by pathogens.
According to different pathogen infections, meningitis can be divided into bacterial meningitis, tuberculous meningitis, viral meningitis and cryptococcal meningitis. Of course, in addition to germs, bacteria and other microorganisms, some drugs can also cause meningitis symptoms in a few cases. Not only adults but also children may get meningitis.
The most common symptoms of meningitis are headache and stiff neck, accompanied by fever, insanity or change of consciousness, vomiting, intolerance to strong light (photophobia) or loud sound (phobia). Children with meningitis usually have only nonspecific symptoms, such as irritability and listlessness.
Because the inflammatory site of meningitis is close to the brain and spinal cord, if the situation is serious, the patient may be fatal. However, since the widespread use of antibiotics, the incidence of meningitis in the world has been greatly reduced, and the continuous development of medical conditions has also made the treatment of meningitis a great success.
2. Causes of meningitis
1, the cause of bacterial meningitis
Bacterial meningitis is caused by some kind of bacterial infection. This kind of bacteria exists in the nose or body of healthy people. Under normal circumstances, it will not cause harm to the human body, but people are easily infected by this bacteria when they have a cold, because inflammation of the nose may cause bacteria to enter the skull, and if it is not found and treated in time, it is easy to cause bacterial meningitis. In addition, bacterial meningitis can be transmitted by coughing or sneezing.
2. Causes of tuberculous meningitis
Tuberculous meningitis is a non-suppurative inflammation of meninges caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, accounting for about 6% of systemic tuberculosis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection spreads through blood and is planted under the pia mater to form tuberculosis nodules. After the nodule ruptured, a large number of Mycobacterium tuberculosis entered the subarachnoid space. In recent years, the incidence and mortality of tuberculous meningitis have increased.
3, the cause of viral meningitis
Viral meningitis can be caused by several viruses, including several viruses related to diarrhea, one of which may be infected after being bitten by voles.
4. The causes of cryptococcal meningitis
Cryptococcal meningitis can be caused by fungi, the most common being Cryptococcus, which can be found in pigeons. Healthy people are not easy to suffer from fungal meningitis, but unlike people infected with HIV, the latter can cause immunodeficiency virus in AIDS patients. Therefore, AIDS patients are more likely to get cryptococcal meningitis.
3. Does meningitis have sequelae?
1, hydrocephalus. When suffering from meningitis, purulent exudate is easy to block narrow pores or adhesion, causing cerebrospinal fluid circulation disorder and hydrocephalus. It is common in patients who are treated improperly or too late, especially newborns and infants. Because of meningeal adhesion and cerebrospinal fluid circulation disorder.
2. Loss of language understanding and expression, brain injury and paralysis, such as deafness, visual impairment, strabismus, facial paralysis, etc.
3. Because brain parenchymal injury and adhesion can affect the cranial nerves, patients with meningitis will cause epilepsy after injury. Meningitis sequelae can also lead to epilepsy, some patients will not appear in a short time, but will appear several years later. It is manifested as different obstacles such as movement, feeling, consciousness, autonomic nerve and spirit. Clinically, it is common for people to suddenly lose consciousness, suddenly fall down, twitch their limbs, foam at the mouth or make strange noises in their mouths, and wake up as usual.
4, in addition to vomiting, occasional intake and other reasons can cause water and electrolyte disorders, but also brain hyponatremia. There are symptoms such as wrong sleep, convulsion, coma, edema, general weakness, low muscle tone of limbs and oliguria.
Can meningitis be cured? Although meningitis is a fatal disease, there are many great chances to be cured if it is found and treated in time. Therefore, patients with meningitis must maintain an optimistic and positive attitude to receive treatment.
Patients with early meningitis can be eradicated by routine treatment if they are corrected in time in the hospital, which usually takes about 2 weeks. If you have been infected with bacterial meningitis, you will use a large dose of antibacterial drugs, possibly through intravenous injection. Antibiotics are widely used to treat bacterial meningitis. Because meningitis is contagious, it will be placed in an isolation room for at least 48 hours.
Many patients with viral encephalitis can fully recover. The chances of survival and recovery depend largely on the type of virus. If bacterial meningitis is treated in time, the mortality rate is less than 10%. However, if the diagnosis and treatment is delayed, it will cause irreversible brain damage and even death, especially for infants and the elderly.
4. Treatment of meningitis
1, drugs for promoting nerve cell regeneration: such as cerebrolysin 10-30 ml dissolved in 250 ml physiological saline once a day, 10-20 days as a course of treatment.
2. Drugs to restore the normal function of cells: for example, 0.75g of cytidine diphosphate choline is dissolved in 5% glucose solution or 250-500ml of normal saline, once a day/kloc-0, or 0.25g is injected into spinal canal.
3. Drugs to improve the environment of brain cells: For example, nimodipine can dilate cerebral vessels, which is beneficial for various nutrients to reach brain cells. Generally, 1 mg intravenous drip is given continuously within1hour after starting treatment. If the patient can tolerate it, it will be increased to 2mg intravenously every hour after 1 hour, with a total daily amount of 24-48mg, and 7- 14 days is a course of treatment. In addition, hyperbaric oxygen therapy can improve the oxygen supply to brain cells.