Meningitis in children. This disease horrifies not for one generation of parents. Remember, our parents always frightened us in childhood - "put on a hat immediately, otherwise you'll catch a cold and get a meningitis"? Surely a familiar phrase. However, the child, as a rule, does not go into details of what kind of illness this is - meningitis, and therefore treats it very negligently. And only becoming adults and with the advent of their own children, parents begin to more consciously fear this disease. Parents have a huge number of questions, one way or another associated with this disease. This article is designed to help parents understand if the devil is as terrible as he is being painted - in this case, meningitis in children.

Causes of the disease

So what is meningitis? Doctors call the inflammatory process, which involves the shells of both the spinal cord and the brain. Pay attention - it inflames the shell of the brain, and not its cells. In other words, the inflammatory process with meningitis develops outside the brain or spinal cord. Of course, that any inflammatory process should be provoked by those or other factors. And meningitis also was not an exception - it can provoke its development by a variety of pathogenic microorganisms, for example, fungi, viruses and bacteria. And very much depends on the state of the child's organism at the moment of penetration of pathogenic bacteria. And the general condition of the child is also extremely important. So, for example, there is an erroneous opinion that meningitis is just a childish disease. However, this is not at all the case - meningitis can get sick at any age. Why did this opinion come about? This is explained very very simply - the worse the immune system of the body works, the higher the risk of developing meningitis. And the children by definition, the immune system is not yet mature enough - so are the physiological characteristics of the child's body. And, consequently, children are more susceptible to this disease - it is these that explains the misconception that meningitis is exclusively an infantile disease. But even among children there are also certain risk groups whose chances of getting meningitis are much higher than those of all the others. Such risk groups include:

Premature babies. Children who were born before the due date are much more likely to experience this disease. And this fact is explained by the fact that the immunity of a premature baby is much more immature, and it is extremely difficult for it to resist pathogenic bacteria. Parents of such children should be especially attentive to the state of health of the child.

Violation of the nervous system. According to the observation of children's doctors, it greatly increases the risk of developing meningitis and disrupting the normal functioning of the central nervous system in the child. And the more serious the disease, the higher the risk of developing meningitis. As a rule, all without exception, children's doctors - neurologists know about this feature and carefully monitor the health of their young patients.

Traumas of the brain or spinal cord. Very often the cause of the development of meningitis in the child are various injuries of the spinal cord or brain. Pathogenic microorganisms are much easier to penetrate into injured shells that can not withstand this invasion. That is why in most cases, with injuries of the brain or spinal cord, almost all children are prescribed antibiotics by the doctors, in preventive doses. Such a measure is designed to reduce the risk of initiating and developing the disease in children.

Of course, there are many other reasons,which can provoke the development of meningitis in children. However, it's rather difficult to talk about everything, we have to confine ourselves to the most common reasons, which have already been mentioned above. Very often frightened parents who are confronted with this disease ask a doctor about the consequences of meningitis in children. The answer to this question is ambiguous. Most often meningitis passes almost without a trace, leaving no consequences or complications. As a rule, this is the case, provided that the disease is diagnosed in a timely manner, and the treatment was conducted correctly and appropriately. However, it is rare enough, but there are exceptions to this rule. Complications can occur, and sometimes serious enough, such as partial or complete loss of vision, hearing loss or even deafness, a strong delay in the development of the child - both in the physical and mental. In especially severe cases, a child may fall into a coma, or die altogether. As a rule, such terrible complications develop if the parents do not seek medical help or are treated too late. Fortunately, these complications are less and less common. According to medical statistics, at present, complications of the course of meningitis are found in no more than 2% of all cases of the disease. And repeated meningitis in children is extremely rare, as a rule, only if the treatment was inappropriate, and the disease was not completely cured. Especially often this happens if the parents were engaged in self-treatment. The independent use of antibacterial and other medications, if very lucky, can only remove some of the external manifestations of the disease for a very short time. Therefore, in order to avoid such terrible consequences, at the first signs of the disease it is necessary to apply for medical help to doctors as soon as possible.

Signs of meningitis

Meningitis in children is very bright. An experienced physician diagnoses the disease is not worth the effort - his symptoms are too specific and easily recognizable. Parents of young children also need to know the main symptoms of the disease, so as not to miss its start. Meningitis in children, symptoms:

• Increased body temperature. The child's body temperature rises extremely sharply and up to very high figures - up to 40 degrees and higher. The child is extremely lazy or, on the contrary, excited, can either sleep for a long time or continuously cry for a very long time - it all depends on the individual characteristics of the organism and the central nervous system of the child. In addition, often in this state a child may experience a strong feeling of chill. Children of older age can complain to parents that they are cold, the younger ones simply tremble. To knock down a similar temperature, giving, as in a usual acute respiratory disease, an antipyretic agent, is almost impossible.
• The appearance of a rash. As a rule, in the first, and less often in the second day of the disease, all children without exception have a pronounced hemorrhagic rash.
• Meningue symptoms. Approximately at the same time, the first meningic symptoms appear, which doctors detect when they examine a child. First of all, the doctor will perform a puncture of cerebrospinal fluid. As a rule, at its subsequent research it is found out that it is either dairy or dirty yellow, cloudy. The content of leukocytes and neutrophils in it is greatly increased, and the bean-shaped diplococci can be found in the cytoplasm, and the protein content is increased. The content of glucose is very much reduced. If you sow, you can easily determine the type of pathogen that caused the development of meningitis.

When examining the blood test of a sick childextremely pronounced changes are detected, which testify to the strongest inflammatory process taking place in the body. All these signs clearly indicate that the child is sick with meningitis, and needs immediate treatment.

Varieties of meningitis

There are several varieties of meningitis inchildren. These varieties depend on what kind of causative agent caused the development of the child's meningitis. Doctors distinguish several main varieties of this disease:

• Pneumococcal meningitis

In the event that meningitis is caused by pneumococci,doctors talk about pneumococcal meningitis. Very often this disease is preceded by either pneumonia, or sinusitis, or acute otitis media. However, this is not a prerequisite - about half of all diseased babies this type of meningitis is primary, without any previous diseases. The disease begins to manifest itself quickly enough and in an acute form, but the meningeal syndrome itself manifests itself a little later than in all other cases - about the third day, not earlier. However, the progression of this type of meningitis is very, very active - the child's turbidity, the development of the nerves paresis, very quickly come on. When carrying out spinal puncture it can be found that spinal fluid contains a huge percentage of pus, leukocytes and pneumococci. This form of the disease is one of the most dangerous of all existing. Doctors explain this feature by the fact that the inflammatory process is extremely rapidly involved in the ventricles of the brain, and its very substance. That is why parents should, as soon as possible, at the first symptoms of the disease, seek medical help from a doctor.

• Hemophilic meningitis

This type of meningitis is provoked by a hemophilicwand. Most often this disease affects children under the age of one year, but at an older age it can also occur. The first manifestations of this disease can be very different - both acute meningeal and catarrhal, similar to those that are typical for acute respiratory infections - a runny nose, a cough, a sore throat. In the latter case, directly meningic symptoms appear already on the fourth, or even the fifth day. And doctors warn parents of small children that they were extremely attentive to the slightest indisposition of their baby. And when symptoms such as frequent regurgitation, vomiting, excessive swelling of the fontanel, stopping its pulsation and an uncontrollable cry, it is necessary immediately to call an ambulance team or to take the child to the medical institution on his own.

• Viral meningitis

In the event that the development of meningitis occursbecause of certain viruses, the onset of the disease will also be somewhat different. Strictly speaking, the disease occurs in two stages - first the child develops a viral disease, and after - signs of the most meningitis appear. However, meningeal syndrome manifests a little differently than in other cases of the disease. Despite the fact that the sick child experiences severe headaches and an oppressed general condition, the meningeal symptoms themselves are rather weakly expressed. Often they are not always expressed in full, and the disorders of consciousness that are typical of all other forms of meningitis, in this situation, there is almost no case. Changes in the analysis of blood in this situation are most similar to those that occur in the blood of a child who is sick with viral diseases than those that occur with meningitis. However, if the child does not receive proper and timely treatment, these changes may appear in a few days.

• Tuberculous meningitis

Tuberculous meningitis is the most rarea common type of this disease, but, unfortunately, also have a place to be. More recently, the mortality rate for this type of meningitis has been quite high, recently modern medicine has perfectly learned to cope with this problem and mortality is virtually eliminated. However, tuberculosis meningitis is still quite a serious threat to the health and life of the child. It appears also quite unusual, and the current for it is typical atypical. Therefore, there is a real threat that the disease will be diagnosed untimely, and accordingly, and treatment will also start untimely, resulting in a very large amount of time is lost. And to cope with this disease is extremely difficult. As a rule, the disease begins with fever, after which it starts vomiting and headaches.

Problems in the diagnosis of meningitis

In some cases, the diagnosis of meningitisis too complicated even for experienced doctors. This happens if the doctors or the parents themselves, considering that the child has this or that inflammatory disease, begin treatment with antibacterial drugs. As a result, the clinical picture of meningitis becomes lubricated. So, for example, fever is not expressed so much - body temperature can keep at a level of 37 - 38 degrees. The headache is also not as strong as usual, but it is of a regular nature. Nausea and vomiting are almost always present, and it is quite debilitating.

Treatment of meningitis

It is not necessary to write a detailed treatment for meningitisno sense - self-medication in this situation is by no means unacceptable. Treatment should be carried out only under strict medical supervision, and exclusively in a hospital setting. This requirement is explained by the fact that meningitis is a very insidious disease - a child's condition can become critical, and emergency resuscitation measures that are possible only in hospital settings may be necessary. Doctors will conduct a full examination of your child and prescribe the necessary treatment that will help to quickly suppress pathogenic bacteria. And very soon from the disease your child will not have a trace, provided that you get help from doctors in time. Often parents ask children's district doctors the question of whether the vaccine is effective against meningitis to children. On the one hand, such a measure can be quite effective in certain cases - during a period of increased fixation of the disease, in unfavorable areas, for children who are at high risk. However, we must not forget that the vaccine is able to protect the child from only one type of meningitis - but not all its varieties. Therefore, there is always the risk that the child will still face meningitis. And vaccination in any case protects the child no more than 4 years. After this, the following vaccination is necessary. And there are no other ways of nonspecific prevention of this disease. The only thing that parents can do is to be attentive to the state of health of their child. And with the first symptoms of meningitis, seek medical help as soon as possible. This will help save not only health, but also the life of the child. We advise you to read:

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