According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meningitis is the inflammation of the meninges and affects the brain and spinal cord. There are five types of meningitis: viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic, and non-infectious meningitis. The symptoms are somewhat similar, though the causes and recommended treatments differ. Bacterial meningitis is the most contagious type of meningitis. All types of meningitis can be very debilitating to your health if not treated promptly (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014).
According to Krysta Peterson, bacterial meningitis was first discovered in Switzerland in 1805 by Gaspard Vieusseux. The bacterium was first identified as Neisseria intracellularis by Anton Weichselbaum. This bacterium is now known as Neisseria meningitidis and can only infect humans (Peterson, n.d.).
According to Dr. Varnada Karriem-Norwood, bacterial meningitis is caused by bacteria such as Neisseria meningitidis. These bacteria cause the meninges that cover the brain and spinal cord to swell which decreases the blood flow to the brain, which can cause paralysis. The bacteria travel to your brain after entering the body through the respiratory system (Karriem-Norwood, 2014).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, parasitic meningitis is caused by an amoeba entering the brain and destroying brain tissue. The amoeba enters through the nose and can only infect humans in the first stage of its life cycle, in which they are known as ameboid trophozoites. They are single-celled organisms and they reproduce by promitosis. They are also thermophilic, which explains the increased amount of parasitic meningitis cases in the summer.
Bacterial meningitis is caused by six...
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...il containing fungi and digging or working in dusty environments.
Noninfectious meningitis is caused by cancer, lupus, or brain surgery. Preventive measures could include taking measures to improve or maintain a strong immune system, avoiding head injury and taking cancer preventive steps such as yearly examinations. Otherwise, there are no preventive measures linked to this specific type of meningitis (CDC, 2014).
According to the European Graduate School, a famous person that died from meningitis was Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet and author in the nineteenth century. He died of meningitis at the age of forty-six. He traveled frequently and some think that he died from syphilis. He married Constance Mary Lloyd but was charged with sodomy and received two years of labor for having an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas (European Graduate School, 2014).
Edgar Allen Poe had died of encephalitis and meningitis, and here are my reasons why I believe this. We know Poe’s symptoms
The microbe Naegleria fowleri, commonly called the brain-eating-amoeba, was first identified from a fatal case of primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in Australia in 1961. In 1965, three further cases of fatal PAM were found, from which clinical and laboratory investigations pointed to a relation with acute bacterial meningitis among the cases of an unknown etiology. According to Fowler & Carter (1965), when post-death examinations of the bodies were performed researchers found that “microscopically the meningeal exudate consisted of about equal proportions of neutrophil leukocytes and chronic inflammatory cells, amongst which small, often degenerate amoebae were sparsely distributed” (p.740). The species of the organism that caused the amoeboflagellate related disease was later named Naegleria fowleri after one of the primary authors of the report, M. Fowler. Butt reports that the first case of PAM in the United States occurred in Florida in 1962 and a further retrospective study reported by dos Santos Netos suggested that additional identified cases of PAM in Virginia may have dated as far back as 1937 (as cited in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013, Pathogen). As research on the microbe ensues, more cases of PAM are beginning to surface and the search for a cure to the fatal infection is imperative.
Unique Fact: Humans cannot contract the amoeba from another person or by drinking contaminated water. The amoeba enters your body through your nose, by contaminated water and voyages to the brain through the nerves that transmit the sense of smell.
Urinary Tract Infection, also known as UTI, occurs in two common locations, the bladder and kidneys. The kidneys are important organs that aid in filtering out waste products from blood and maintaining water distribution throughout the body. The waste products are filtered out via bladder, which is the reason of the bladder being the second site for the infection. A normal human being has two kidneys, one on left and right side, a bean shaped organ, and is located at the back of the abdomen. “Each kidney is about 11.5 cm long, 5-7.5 cm broad, 5 cm thick, and weight about 150 grams” (HealthInfoNet, Paragraph 2). Furthermore, a bacterium named Escherichia coli lives in both the kidneys and the GI tract. E. coli is part of the human body and produces
Tuberculosis or TB is an airborn infection caused by inhaled droplets that contain mycobacterium tuberculosis. When infected, the body will initiate a cell-mediated hypersensitivity response which leads to formation of lesion or cavity and positive reaction to tuberculin skin test (Kaufman, 2011). People who have been infected with mycobacteria will have a positive skin test, but only ones who have active TB will show signs and symtoms. Basic signs and symptoms include low grade fever, cough with hemoptysis, and tachypnea. They may also show pleuristic chest pain, dyspnea, progressive weight loss, fatigue and malaise (Porth, 2011).
Hicks, Rob, Dr., and Trisha Macnair, Dr. “Meningitis.” BBC. Dec. 2005. 27 July 2006 .
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.
The first outbreak of Pertussis occurred January 1, 1500. Pertussis was discovered around 1906 by French scientists Jules Bordet and Octave Gengou. Bordet isolated the bacterium and continuously studied the strand. However, the first vaccine was not created until January 1, 1920 (timetoast.com). Pertussis is the leading cause of numerous infant deaths. In 2016 alone, 15,737 cases of pertussis were reported and out of these, seven deaths occurred. (2)
The discovery of meningitis dates back to the 1800’s. The first evidence that linked bacterial infection as a cause of meningitis was written by Austrian pathologist Anton Weichselbaum. He was the one to isolate the causative agent of cerebrospinal meningitis. He named this bacterium Diplococcus intracellularis meningitidis.
As you exit the bus, another passenger next to you starts to cough, and then you hold the handrail as you exit the bus. Since you’re late getting home, you take a shortcut through a field to get home quicker. These three simple acts just exposed you to bacteria, viruses, and insects that could cause illness or even death. Infectious diseases, also known as communicable disease, are spread by germs. Germs are living things that are found in the air, in the soil, and in water. You can be exposed to germs in many ways, including touching, eating, drinking or breathing something that contains a germ. Animal and insect bites can also spread germs.1
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...
The swine influenza or swine flu is a respiratory disease in pigs that is caused by the type A influenza viruses. These viruses are referred to as swine flu viruses but scientifically the main virus is called the swine triple reassortant (tr) H1N1 influenza virus. When the viruses infect humans they are called variant viruses. This infection has been caused in humans mainly by the H1N1v virus in the United States. The H1N1 virus originates in animals due to improper conditions and the food they ingest. The virus stays in latency form, thus harmless to the respective animal. The longer the animals survive the more likely the virus is to develop and strengthen making it immune to vaccines. The virus reproduced through the lytic cycle. The virus injects its own nucleic acids into a host cell and then they form a circle in the center of the cell. Rather than copying its own nucleic acids, the cell will copy the viral acids. The copies of viral acids then organize themselves as viruses inside of the cell. The membrane will eventually split leaving the viruses free to infect other cells.
The emergence of Penicillin marked the dawn of the antibiotic era and allowed for diseases which normally ended in death or dysfunction to be eliminated and for people to carry on living healthy lives. It is estimated that 90% of children who had meningitis of the bacterial kind in the pre-antibiotic era would either die or survive the illness with a physical impairment. Strep throat, whooping cough, tuberculosis and pneumonia are among some of the other fatal bacterial diseases which would usually result in a fatality. Antibiotics decreased the mortality rates, and so new antibiotics were formed.
Cystitis is the medical term for inflammation of the urinary bladder. Most of the time, the inflammation is caused by a bacterial infection, and it’s called a urinary tract infection. A bladder infection can be painful and annoying, and it can become a serious health problem if the infection spreads to your kidney.
There are numerous public health problems that can be addressed in my Southside of Chicago community. Among the several public health problems facing my Southside of Chicago community there are two that are more urgent. Health education or one might say lack thereof is a problem that needs to be addressed. My community is plagued with many of the residents suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes, and the killer virus known as HIV. In most cases these conditions can be prevented with healthier lifestyles and access to nutritious organic foods. In addition, environmental health is another urgent problem my community is facing. Access to clean, safe water and air is supposed to be a fundamental human right aimed at a healthy environment. Yet, my community consists a waste contaminated beach, numerous deteriorated building that are still occupied, and a countless number of restaurant and stores supplying our residents with services that are endangering their health.