The Brain and Meningitis

Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes (meninges’) surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis has several causes including bacteria, chemical irritation, drug allergies and most commonly viruses. Most cases of meningitis in the United States are caused by a viral infection not by bacteria. Viral meningitis accounts for around 25,000-50,000 hospital visits and more than 10,000 of those cases are diagnosed as meningitis annually. Around 4,000 Americans are diagnosed annually with bacterial meningitis, 500 of those cases ending fatally. If you suspect any symptoms of meningitis or have been in contact with someone who has meningitis you should always seek medical care immediately.

The first recorded case of meningitis was in Geneva in 1805 by Gaspard Vieusseux but the first evidence to show that bacterial infections could cause meningitis came in 1887 by Anton Vaykselbaum who described meningococcal bacteria. During the second half of the 20th Century Influenza A and B were also linked as a cause of meningitis but by 1968 AA Smorodintsev proved that there are more than two hundred viruses can cause meningitis. The definite diagnosis of meningitis comes after having a lumbar puncture, this procedure has been performed for centuries to diagnose meningitis; Heinrich Quincke came up with this procedure to collect Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) in 1891. Many signs and symptoms were thought to have been connected to meningitis but Russian physician Vladimir Kernig (1884) and Polish physician Jozet Brudzinski (1899) came up with definite symptoms that include extending the leg that causes pain (Kering) and pain when flexing the head (Brudzinski). In 1944 Penicillin was reported as the first effective treatment ag...

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... The worst meningitis outbreak in the US was in July of 2013, 15 states were involved including 214 cases and 15 deaths. There were many states involved including Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Texas, and Indiana. These cases of meningitis were linked to methylprednisolone actate steroid shots used for back, knee and joint pain. The medication was recalled but had already been shipped to 23 states and may have been given to 14,000 patients. Tennessee was the worst hit state with 53 cases followed by Michigan with 46 cases. The fungi that caused the outbreak was Exserohilum and Aspergillus which are common to the environment, not meningitis cases. The fungi is found in dirt and grasses but somehow got into the medication in the injections. These strains were not contagious and the patients in the outbreak were given two strong antibiotics.