Healthy Lifestyle Radio Storytime

Posts Tagged ‘meningococcus’

Meningitis is an inflammation of the leptomeninges (arachnoid and pia mater). It is a medical emergency requiring rapid diagnosis and early treatment. Infectious meningitis is a devastating process with a high morbidity and mortality.

Etiology
The causes are divided into infectious and aseptic, the second group are those patients in whom the spinal fluid has a high lymphocyte count (> 50%), a moderate increase in protein, normal glucose, Gram stain and negative microbiological study .
There are several diseases (bacterial endocarditis) and conditions (splenectomy, sickle cell disease) that predispose a picture of meningitis. The pneumococcus is the most common etiologic agent in adults, followed in order of importance the meningococcus, H. influenzae, Listeria monocytogenes and with the advent of AIDS, Cryptococcus. Read the rest of this entry »