posted
One of my best friends (Veck) just called and told me her sister was rushed to the ER this morning. She has meningitis. They don't know if it's bacterial or viral yet. But for the past month, her sister's been very ill. Headaches, body aches, swollen lymph nodes, sore throat...huge gamut of stuff.
They did blood tests this morning and the doc said the band for meningitis were the highest he's ever seen.
We're all wicked worried.
For her, especially.
But what does it mean for the rest of us? For Veck, her family, her friends?
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Oh, Dear! I don't know. The only person I know who had it recovered eventually, and nobody else got it. I hope you experience the same. Time for google...
Posts: 1379 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
I think one of the scary things about meningitis is that it seems to come from nowhere. It doesn't spread in a predictable way, it can just suddenly strike someone here and there. It is one of those diseases that takes both the introduction of a pathogen and some kind of weakness in the victim to take root. Also, if the patient has had it for a while, that means they probably won't catch it from the same source she did, though catching it from her is a different concern.
Another thing I always found scary about it is that the course of it can be so quick. Like those stories you hear about the guy who feels a little ill and takes some nyquil and never wakes up.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Mack, don't wait around. Call a doctor and ask. Maybe there's no worry. Maybe they can test you know. Maybe they can give you symptoms to look out for.
Whatever they can do, it's worth knowing now.
I'll pray for your friend's sister in the meantime.
posted
I remember hearing that one type spreads much easier than the other, but I have no clue which.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
That's meningococcal meningitis, the sudden bad one. I sent mack an email. I'll be back to this thread later.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
If she has one of the several types of bacterial meningitis, then those who live with her and her significant other will be given antibiotics to protect against hib.
Meningococcal meningitis: Close contacts should get antibiotics. Close contacts include household members and other intimate contacts, children in school environments, coworkers in the same office, young adults in dormitories, and recruits in training centers. In contrast, prophylaxis is not indicated if exposure to the index case is brief. This includes the majority of healthcare workers unless there is direct exposure to respiratory secretions (eg, as with suctioning or intubation).
There is no need for prophylaxis in families with a child with H. influenzae meningitis if no one else in the environment is less than four years of age. If, however, there is another young unvaccinated child present, the entire household (including the index case) should receive prophylaxis.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Veck just updated me that her sister was taken to the ER this morning due to a high fever, severe body pain, and the inability to move her head from the pillow, much less her body from the bed, and vomiting.
She's been vomiting all day (new symptom) and now dry heaving. She's on morphine for the pain. Infectious disease saw her and said they don't think it's meningitis.
posted
I hope it really isn't meningitis. My older sister died when I was 2 weeks old from Spinal Meningitis... My prayers go out yo your friends sister.
Posts: 1094 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Bacterial meningitis is one of very few diseases that cause us at the Department of Health to drop everything and work overtime because it is potentially so deadly if untreated.
If your friend is confirmed with bacterial meningitis, all of her close contacts will need to have post-exposure antibiotic prophylaxis. For adults, one dose of Cipro will provide protection. Children and others for whom Cipro is contraindicated will need another antibiotic such as Rifampin for two days.
Meningitis DOES seem to come from no where. It is estimated that up to 20% of healthy adults are carriers of meningococci, usually in their throat or nasal passages. When they are stressed, for example, in very cold weather or in severe dry seasons, the back of the throat will sometimes get a fissure and that allows the bacteria into the meninges causing infection.
We treat all close contacts of meningitis for two reasons. First, menigitis is extremely communicable in household settings. Second, it is possible that the case was not the initial "carrier" and the prophylactic dose of antibiotics will treat the carrier state and prevent further spread of the disease.
For viral, or aseptic meningitis, there is no specific treatment, but it is not very contagious and the disease is not as severe - certainly not usually life threatening.
posted
Isn't there now a vaccine? At least I think that's what that shot that I had last week was... :walks off grumbling and rubbing upper arm:
Posts: 459 | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
There is a vaccine for certain strains of menigicoccal disease, but not all. It is recommended mostly for college students and others living in dormitory type living conditions.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Maui babe, I have a question. I heard from a fairly unreliable source that we are all carriers of meningitis, and that it isn't really understood why it develops into a dangerous illness in some and lies dormant in others. Any truth to this? The person who told me this didn't have any idea what sort of meningitis it was, or even that there were different types.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Okay, according to my reference manual (I was home for the holiday earlier and was working from memory),
quote:UP to 10% of people may be asymptomatic carriers with nasopharyngeal colonization of Neisseria meningitidis. Less than 1% of those colonized will progress to invasive disease. Carrier rates of up to 25% have been documented in some populations in the absence of any cases of meningococcal disease.
There are, of course, other agents that can cause meningitis, including Strep pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenza type b or Hib. There does not seem to be a carrier state for these types of meningitis, however.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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