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Ency. home > Disease > M > Meningitis

Meningitis See images

Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Prevention

Symptoms

fever and chills

headache, severe

nausea and vomiting

stiff neck ("meningismus")

sensitivity to light (photophobia)

mental status changes

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:

consciousness, decreased
breathing, rapid
agitation
opisthotonos (severe neck stiffness, ultimately resulting in a characteristic arched posture-seen in infants or small children)
"bulging fontanelles" may be seen in infants
poor feeding or irritability in children

Meningitis is an important cause of fever in newborn children. For this reason, a lumbar puncture is often done on newborns who have a fever of uncertain origin.

Signs and Tests

Lumbar puncture with CSF glucose measurement and CSF cell count.
Gram-stain and culture of CSF (cerebral spinal fluid).
Chest X-ray to look for other sites of infection.
Head CT scan looking for hydrocephalus, abscess or deep swelling.

Ency. home > Disease > M > Meningitis

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