How to recognize meningitis? Signs of the child

Inflammation of the soft membranes of the spinal cord, the brain - is meningitis. His etiology is very diverse - the nature of the disease can be bacterial, viral, allergic. The disease develops most often in children, especially those who have weakened immunity. Despite the fact that meningitis is a very serious disease that can cause extremely serious complications, in children it can be treated well in most cases and goes almost without consequences, of course, provided that the therapy was started in a timely manner.

If you ignore the symptoms or delayed treatment for medical help, your child may develop complications such as temporary or permanent hearing loss, partial or absolute loss of vision, developmental disorders (mental and physical). In the worst case scenario, a child may fall into a coma, die. But it is not necessary to be frightened - the disease leads to such tragic consequences in no more than 2% of cases, and only in those children who were not provided with competent medical assistance on time. Therefore it is very important not to start meningitis. Symptoms in the child, indicating the development of the disease, usually immediately manifest themselves brightly. But even if you notice only minor symptoms that may indicate this disease, immediately consult a doctor.

Meningitis: signs of a child

As already noted, the disease usually from the very beginning has a very pronounced form. Its symptoms are quite specific, and therefore easily recognizable. The first sign of the disease can be called a sharp, sudden significant increase in temperature, its level can reach up to 40 degrees.

Depending on the individual physiological characteristics of the organism, as well as on the form in which meningitis takes place, the symptoms in the child may (along with the temperature increase) consist of weakness or, conversely, an excited state, inhibition and drowsiness or, on the contrary, irritability and capriciousness.

There are pains in the head. In addition, the child begins to worry chills - in young children there is a shiver, the elders just always freeze. It is also characteristic that high fever can not be brought down by any antipyretic drugs. Typical symptoms include the appearance of a hemorrhagic rash on the skin. Usually it occurs on the second day after the onset of inflammation. Based on these symptoms, you should suspect meningitis. The signs of the child will eventually expand, but do not wait for it - call the ambulance.

Types of meningitis

As very young children, and schoolchildren most often fall ill with viral meningitis, it is also called serous. The acute period of the disease lasts about three to five days, at which time the signs of viral meningitis in children are characterized by intense headaches, a significant increase in temperature. With timely-initiated therapy, recovery will occur on average in two weeks. If to speak in general, then favorable prognosis to cure is serous meningitis. The signs in the child, however, do not immediately manifest themselves in all cases, which sometimes leads to late diagnosis and, consequently, the need for longer and more time-consuming treatment.

Young children are more likely to get purulent meningitis. They are especially affected by their children in the first year of life. This type of disease develops mainly under the influence of bacterial infection, excites the ailment of meningococcus, haemophilus rod, pneumococci. Signs of purulent meningitis - fever, intense headache, rigidity of muscles. Increases sensitivity to light, smells, sounds. Thanks to such a vivid symptomatology, problems with diagnosing the disease practically never arise.