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Romans 12:2

Public Resources - Meningitis

If you Google meningitis,you will find that different medical websites classify the various sorts of meningitis in an arbitrary sort of way.  Some doctors list viral meningitis and syphilitic meningitis under aseptic meningitis.  Others do it differently.
I’ve classified meningitis in the way that makes best sense to me:

  • Amoebic meningitis: caused by amoeba in thermal hot pools.
  • Aseptic meningitis: causes include connective tissue diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Behcet’s disease, drugs, toxins, antibiotics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, and other types of medications.
  • Bacterial meningitis: caused by a bacterial infection. 
  • Cryptococcal meningitis: primarily in immunosuppressed people e.g. HIV, caused by infection from Blastomyces dermatitidis, and another yeast called Cryptococcus found in soil and bird droppings. To most people it is not normally a problem.
  • Meningococcal meningitis: caused by several different types of bacteria called Neisseria meningitides.  Commonly called meningococcal disease. Types: A,B, C,W, Y. It is carried by around 20% of people most of the time, with types varying. Most people exposed to the bacteria never get ill.
  • Neoplastic meningitis: is caused by the spread of solid tumours to the brain or spinal cord.
  • Parasitic meningitis: Toxoplasmosis
  • Streptococcus Pneumonaie: A bacterial form of meningitis, which has become much more common after the use of the Hib vaccine: For basic information in Pneumococcal see here. To understand the issue of serotype replacement and various vaccines effects see Sisyphus Part ISisyphus Part II and Sisyphus Part III.
  • Syphilitic meningitis: (sometimes called aseptic) caused by infection with the bacterium that causes syphilis.
  • Tuberculous meningitis: caused by tuberculosis infection, and left untreated may cause brain damage.
  • Viral meningitis: primarily caused by echo or enteroviruses, and is most common in children. It can sometimes be a complication of childhood diseases such as chickenpox, mumps, herpes simplex etc .

With these classifications, this gives you the key words to put into a Google search to find which sort of meningitis you want to know about.

Hilary's Desk

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