Treating and Preventing Meningitis and Encephalitis
The diseases, meningitis and encephalitis, cause various problems in the brain and should be avoided at all costs. Various preventative measures can be taken to avoid them. When one does contract one of the diseases, treatments are available to help cure them, but the treatments do not have a 100 percent success rate. Because of its viral and bacterial tendencies, antibiotics are used at times to attack the diseases as are various vaccines to help prevent contraction of the diseases.
In the process of painting the famous Sistine Chapel, Leonardo Da Vinci accidentally uses the wrong color paint to paint Adam's finger. Should he wait until the paint is dry and can no longer fix the mess he made, leave it as a mistake, or take off the paint immediately and fix it? Of course taking care of the blemish as quickly as possible would be the best choice. Much like in this hypothetical scenario, one would want to treat a case of meningitis or encephalitis with the utmost urgency. The horrible effects of the diseases make them advisable to avoid and also advisable to treat promptly when contracted.
Due to its tendency to be both a viral and bacterial disease, meningitis can prove difficult to treat. Its dual tendencies also mean that various methods are used to attack the disease. In order to treat meningitis, different aspects of the disease must be discovered first. The type of organism causing the infection, the age of the patient, and the extent of the infection must all be taken into account (WebMD, sec. 8). Any time meningitis is found, immediate treatment with antibiotics is required, and continuation of antibiotic treatment depends on whether a bacteria or a virus is causing th...
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Nagami also had to deal with the limits of medicine in dealing with her cases. The chapter dealing with AIDS, chicken pox, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis displayed the limits of medicine. In each of these cases the patients involved died even though Dr. Nagami and her colleagues tried to prevent their deaths. In the case of AIDS and the encephalitis advances have been made in treatment of the disease since Dr. Nagami first encountered them. At the time of the cases however there was very little that could be done to save the patients. Some cases like the chickenpox simply overran the body and any treatment that was
The human immune system is an amazing system that is constantly on the alert protecting us from
Clinical Infectious Diseases, 49(3), 438-443. Doi:10.1086/600391. See full address and map. Medicare.gov/Hospital Compare - The Official U.S. Government Site for Medicare (n.d).
Polio is a viral disease. It cripples thousands of people and infects even more every year. Even though millions are inoculated, and the polio disease has been successfully purged from hundreds of countries still thousands of people and developing countries are infected and still people are dying. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) polio affects the Central Nervous System, or CNS; by infesting the intestines and transmitting it into the nerves thought the blood vessels. There the virus spreads through the nerve cells to the brain stem or other motor units, while forever damaging the nerves.
" National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web. The Web.
While many forms of encephalitis exist, West Nile Virus was first isolated and identified in the West Nile District of Uganda in 1937. The virus, which was seemingly isolated to North Eastern Africa, became recognized as a cause of severe human meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the spinal cord and brain) in elderly patients during an outbreak in Israel in 1957. In addition to the human victims of this disease, the virus was found Egypt and France during 1960s to have fatal effects within horses. While this disease spread through Northern African and Southern Europe, 1999 marked the first appearance of West Nile Virus in North America, with encephalitis reported in both humans and horses.
Meningitis, it’s an infection in the cerebral spinal fluid and inflammation of the meninges; the three outer layers of the brain. To be more specific, those three layers are called the Dura mater, Arachnoid mater, and the Pia mater. There are three main types of meningitis that will be discussed throughout this paper; viral, bacterial, and fungal. Each form is very similar but they all vary in terms of causative organisms, treatment and severity. Although meningitis is not very common, it can become very severe and always needs to be treated immediately.
Today there are many infectious diseases around the world. An infectious disease is defined as an infection which can be caused by the entrance, development and manipulation of microorganisms in the body. Infections are classified as emerging and re-emerging. An emerging disease is a disease that has appeared in a population for the first time, or that it may have happened previously but is rapidly increasing in incident or geographic range. Whereas a re-emerging disease is a disease that has been present at a location in the past and was considered eradicated or controlled. Some emerging and re-emerging disease present today and in the past are, HIV and Aids, Ebola, Hendra Virus as emerging diseases and Malaria, Tuberculosis, and Cholera as re-emerging diseases. In this report the re-emerging disease ‘Poliomyelitis’ will be thoroughly investigated and from reliable research, the effectiveness of the management to prevent this disease in the world will be evaluated. Poliomyelitis, often called ‘polio’ or ‘infantile paralysis’ is an infectious disease caused by a virus. This dangerous infectious disease has been eradicated around the world except for three countries, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Meningitis is a disease caused by inflammation of the protective membrane of the brain and spinal cord, called the meninges. Usually meningitis is caused by either a bacteria or a virus, but in less common cases, meningitis can possibly be caused by certain medications or injuries. The most common way that meningitis is contracted is by bacteria or viruses that infect the body and spread from the bloodstream to the meninges by cerebrospinal fluid. Viral meningitis is more frequently seen and is not usually severe. In more serious cases, viral meningitis may cause prolonged fever or seizures. On the other hand, bacterial meningitis is very serious and must be treated immediately in order to prevent brain damage or even death. Both types of meningitis share the same symptoms which makes it very important to see a doctor to determine the severity of the disease. The severity of meningitis depends on a person's age, health, and also the cause. Meningitis can range from very mild to very severe. The likely hood of death is highest in someone who suffered a seizure in the first 24 hours, ...
Throughout history there have been very dangerous diseases that have been able to single handedly wipe out entire civilizations because there was nothing that we could do about it. Most of the time was because we did not quite understand what was actually happening. But thanks to all of the scientific advancements humans are able to live many more times than previous years. But that doesn’t meant that every human is healthy enough. This means that although we are less prone to die from some infectious diseases, we now have other risk for example not keeping up with a healthy diet is one of the many reasons why there are so many premature deaths. Now if you don’t get treated right away it can get worst the longer you get and sometimes it can also be fatal. One of those is Meningitis which is something very serious that if it doesn’t get treated it can lead to very serious complications in the long run or even death depending on the case. The reason why I chose this one was because when I was in high school I suffered from some...
Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges, which are membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis can be caused by infections from viruses, bacterium, or other microorganisms. Due to the inflammation being in close proximity to the brain and spinal cord, meningitis can be life threatening and is classified as a medical emergency.
Centers For Disease Control (2000, July 2000). Health Statistics July 2000. Retrieved June 28, 2004, from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/
In the last decade, the number of prescriptions for antibiotics has increases. Even though, antibiotics are helpful, an excess amount of antibiotics can be dangerous. Quite often antibiotics are wrongly prescribed to cure viruses when they are meant to target bacteria. Antibiotics are a type of medicine that is prone to kill microorganisms, or bacteria. By examining the PBS documentary Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria and the article “U.S. government taps GlaxoSmithKline for New Antibiotics” by Ben Hirschler as well as a few other articles can help depict the problem that is of doctors prescribing antibiotics wrongly or excessively, which can led to becoming harmful to the body.
7. Mullen, Paul E. “Violently Ill.” AQ: Australian Quarterly, vol. 70, no. 2, 1998, pp. 30–32. JSTOR, JSTOR,
Before doctors can start treatment, they have to conduct a physical exam. They also have to review your medical history and activities. A doctor may order various diagnostic tests that assess motor, sensory functions, nerve function, hearing and speech, vision, coordination, balance, and mental status. The doctor may also check for your recent exposure to insects or animals. Screening of your blood and urine may also be required (Medline Plus). After initial diagnosis, antibiotics are started immediately, and normally injected with a syringe. The earlier you start treatment the better the outcome. There will also be better results if the source of infection is removed. Sources may include shunts or heart valves. Although children and elderly have a high chance of passing away, the disease effects all ages and all ages can die from it. Three to five percent of the people diagnosed do not live through it (NIH). Some types of meningitis are preventable through a vaccine. Even though most of the time it is a bad disease it can sometimes cure itself and doesn’t need medical attention, but if you think you are suffering from it get medical attention anyways just to be safe. If you are not treated and it is a more serious form of meningitis then it is very possible that you will have permanent damage. This research paper about meningitis has shown the important facts of the disease, how it effects