Tuberculosis

**Meningitis**
By - Mitch Grosam Quinn Pierner and Shelby Schmit    

**Meningitis Symptom****s**
*Usually appear suddenly - Fever - Vomiting - Seizures - Severe headaches - Stiff and painful neck - Weakness <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Eye sensitivity <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Skin rash

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**Distribution**

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Sub-Saharan Africa, stretching from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, has the highest rates of the disease.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">In 2009, 14 African countries reported 88-199 suspected cases along with 5352 deaths caused by meningitis. [[image:bacterialandviraldiseases/800px-Meningitis-Epedemics-World-Map.png width="366" height="176" align="left"]]

♦ "Meningitis belt" ♦ epidemic zones ♦ sporadic cases

**History**
Among the earliest sightings of Meningitis date back to the times of Jesus, where the Hippocrits (doctors) called it droopsy in the brain. The knowledge of the disease has only grown since then. In 1766 Sir Robert Whytt came up with another name for droopsy in the brain. He described it as the brain-killing disease. However, in 1887 Anton Weichselbaum found the real name, Meningitis. He said it was a type of disease called Meningococcus disease. The first documented epidemics was in Eastern Europe in 1805. Then it reached Africa in the early 1900's and devestated the population. Many people caught it and 99/100 people who caught it died. Around 1/5 of the population in the places where it hit died. How the African's treated it was to stay in your house and to never eat any bad food. They also tried to wash their hands as much as they could. This however lead many families into poverty and to starve to death.

revention
The first known thing to slow down Meningitis was Penicillin. In 1944 Penicillin was invented by Alexander Fleming and was soon tested on people with Meningitis. However Penicillin didn't always do the job. It was still one of the most dangerous diseases on the planet. Now there are some vaccineslike the Haemophilus Influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine, or the PCV4 vaccine. Anyways it is still o0ne of the worst diseases to get in the world, but we are in the age of curing it and us as teenagers might be able to find a cure for it when we grow up.

Main Causes
One of the main ways to catch meningitis is if you have had recent trauma to your skull. This gives bacteria in the nasal cavity the potential to reach the meninges. Meninges are membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord, once the meningitis bacteria has reached these, it can infect the brain.

**Bacterial Meningitis**
Bacterial meningitis is contagious. The bacteria are spread through respiratory and throat secretions such as coughing or kissing. None of the bacteria that cause meningitis are nearly as contagious as the common cold or Influenza. Also, the bacteria can’t be spread by just breathing in the air where a person with the disease has been. The bacteria can spread to other people who have had close contact with a patient with meningitis.

**Viral Meningitis**
The most common cause of viral meningitis is Enteroviruses. It can be spread through fecal contamination for example; changing a diaper, and going to the bathroom and not properly washing your hands afterwards. You can also get infected through respiratory secretions (saliva and mucus)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">**Fungal Meningitis**

Fungal meningitis is not contagious and it isn’t transmitted from person to person. People can acquire fungal meningitis by inhaling fungal spores from the environment. People with other medical conditions like cancer or HIV are at a higher risk of getting the disease. Also, you can get meningitis after taking medications that suppress your immune system like steroids.

Links
[|www.mayoclinic.com/health/meningitis/DS00118/DSECTION=prevention] [|www.wikipedia.com/wiki/meningitis] [|www.ehow.com/facts_5485019_history-meningitis.html]

//mayoclinic.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://www.mayoclinic.com/‌health/‌meningitis/‌DS00118/‌DSECTION=symptoms>. “Meningitis.” //cdc.gov//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/‌meningitis/‌index.html>. “Meningitis.” //ehow.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://www.ehow.com/‌facts_5485019_history-meningitis.html>. “Meningitis.” //wikipedia.org//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/‌wiki/‌Meningitis>. “Meningitis Epidemics World Map.” Chart. N.p.: n.p., n.d. //wikipedia.org//. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/‌wiki/‌File:Meningitis-Epedemics-World-Map.png>. //Spinal Meningitis//. N.d. //healthcrafter.net//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://healthcrafter.net/‌spinal-meningitis-contagious-find-best-answer/‌759>.