Pneumococcal meningitis

Symptoms usually come on quickly, and may include:

• Fever and chills
• Mental status changes
• Nausea and vomiting
• Sensitivity to light (photophobia)
• Severe headache
• Stiff neck

Other symptoms that can occur with this disease:

• Agitation
• Bulging fontanelles
• Decreased consciousness
• Poor feeding or irritability in children
• Rapid breathing
• Unusual posture, with the head and neck arched backwards (opisthotonos)

Pneumococcal meningitis is an important cause of fever in children and newborns.

Physical examination will usually show:

• Fast heart rate
• Fever
• Mental status changes
• Stiff neck

For any patient who is suspected of having meningitis, it is important to perform a lumbar puncture ("spinal tap"), in which spinal fluid (known as cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF) is collected for testing.

Tests that may be done include:

• Blood culture
• Chest x-ray
• CSF examination for cell count, glucose, and protein
• CT scan of the head
• Gram stain, other special stains, and culture of CSF

Images

Pneumococci organism

Pneumococcal pneumonia

Previous Section

Meningitis Overview

Next Section

Meningitis Treatment

Review Date: 09/15/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Jatin M. Vyas, PhD, MD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)