• Haemophilus vaccine (HiB vaccine) in children will help prevent one type of meningitis.
• The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is now a routine childhood immunization and is very effective at preventing pneumococcal meningitis.
• Household members and others in close contact with people who have meningococcal meningitis should receive preventive antibiotics to avoid becoming infected themselves.

The meningococcal vaccination is recommended for:

• Adolescents ages 11 - 12 and adolescents entering high school (about age 15) who have not already received the vaccination.
• All college freshmen who have not been vaccinated and are living in dorms.
• Children age 2 and older who do not have their spleen or who have other problems with their immune system.
• Those traveling to countries where diseases caused by meningococcus are very common (ask your doctor).

Some communities conduct vaccination campaigns after an outbreak of meningococcal meningitis.

Swartz MN. Meningitis: bacterial, viral, and other. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 437.

Images

Lumbar puncture - spinal tap

Meninges of the spine

Haemophilus influenza organism

Brudzinski's sign of meningitis

Meninges of the brain

Kernig's sign of meningitis

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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)