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Symptoms of Meningococcal disease

Symptoms of Meningococcal disease

The list of signs and symptoms mentioned in various sources for Meningococcal disease includes the 56 symptoms listed below:

Research symptoms & diagnosis of Meningococcal disease:

Meningococcal disease: Complications

Review medical complications possibly associated with Meningococcal disease:

Meningococcal disease Symptoms: Book Excerpts

Diagnostic Testing

Diagnostic testing of medical conditions related to Meningococcal disease:

Research More About Meningococcal disease

Do I have Meningococcal disease?

Meningococcal disease: Undiagnosed Conditions

Diseases that may be commonly undiagnosed in related medical areas:

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical tests related to Meningococcal disease:

Wrongly Diagnosed with Meningococcal disease?

The list of other diseases or medical conditions that may be on the differential diagnosis list of alternative diagnoses for Meningococcal disease includes:

See the full list of 25 alternative diagnoses for Meningococcal disease

Meningococcal disease: Research Doctors & Specialists

Research all specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

More about symptoms of Meningococcal disease:

More information about symptoms of Meningococcal disease and related conditions:

Other Possible Causes of these Symptoms

Click on any of the symptoms below to see a full list of other causes including diseases, medical conditions, toxins, drug interactions, or drug side effect causes of that symptom.

Medical Books Online about Meningococcal disease

Medical Books Excerpts Excerpts of published medical book chapters related to Meningococcal disease are available from published medical books for more detailed information about Meningococcal disease.

Medical Books Excerpts
  • HEADACHE
  • "Algorithmic Diagnosis of Symptoms and Signs" (2003)
  • PHOTOPHOBIA
  • "Algorithmic Diagnosis of Symptoms and Signs" (2003)
  • Headache
  • "In A Page: Pediatric Signs and Symptoms" (2007)
  • HEADACHE
  • "Differential Diagnosis in Primary Care" (2007)
  • Headache
  • "Handbook of Signs & Symptoms (Third Edition)" (2006)
  • Photophobia
  • "Handbook of Signs & Symptoms (Third Edition)" (2006)
  • Headache
  • "A Pocket Manual of Differential Diagnosis" (1999)
  • Encephalitis
  • "Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition)" (2005)
  • Headache
  • "Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition)" (2005)
  • Meningitis
  • "Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition)" (2005)
  • Headache
  • "Professional Guide to Signs & Symptoms (Fifth Edition)" (2006)
  • Photophobia
  • "Professional Guide to Signs & Symptoms (Fifth Edition)" (2006)
  • Headache
  • "The 10-Minute Diagnosis Manual: Symptoms and Signs in the Time-Limited Encounter" (2000)
  • Headache
  • "Field Guide to Bedside Diagnosis" (2007)
  • Headache
  • "Signs & Symptoms: A 2-in-1 Reference for Nurses" (2007)
  • Photophobia
  • "Signs & Symptoms: A 2-in-1 Reference for Nurses" (2007)
  • Headache
  • "The Diagnostic Approach to Symptoms and Signs in Pediatrics" (2006)
  • Headache
  • "Nursing: Interpreting Signs and Symptoms" (2007)

Copyright notice for book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

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Patient Surveys for Meningococcal disease

Symptoms of Meningococcal disease: Online Medical Books

16 MEDICAL BOOKS ONLINE! Review excerpts from medical books online, free, without registration, for more information about the symptoms of Meningococcal disease.


Encephalitis: Signs and Symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Sudden onset of fever, headache, vomiting, meningeal irritation (stiff neck and back), drowsiness, coma, paralysis, seizures, ataxia, psychoses

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Headache: Signs and symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Initially, migraine headaches usually produce unilateral, pulsating pain, which later becomes more generalized. They’re commonly preceded by a scintillating scotoma, hemianopsia, unilateral paresthesia, or speech disorders. The patient may experience irritability, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and photophobia. (See Clinical features of migraine headaches.)

Both muscle contraction and traction-inflammatory vascular headaches produce a dull, persistent ache, tender spots on the head and neck, and a feeling of tightness around the head, with a characteristic “hatband” distribution. The pain is usually severe and unrelenting. If caused by intracranial bleeding, these headaches may result in neurologic deficits, such as paresthesia and muscle weakness; narcotics may fail to relieve pain in these cases. If caused by a tumor, pain is most severe when the patient awakens.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Meningitis: Signs and Symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Nuchal rigidity, Brudzinski’s and Kernig’s signs, exaggerated deep tendon reflexes, opisthotonos, sinus arrhythmias, irritability, photophobia, deep stupor, coma

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Meningococcal infections: Signs and symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Features of meningococcal bacteremia include sudden spiking fever, headache, sore throat, cough, chills, myalgia (in back and legs), arthralgia, tachycardia, tachypnea, mild hypotension, and a petechial, nodular, or maculopapular rash. Headache and stiff neck can also occur as the infection extends to the meninges.

In about 10% to 20% of patients, the disease progresses to fulminating meningococcemia, with extreme prostration, enlargement of skin lesions, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), and shock. Without prompt treatment, death from respiratory or heart failure occurs in 6 to 24 hours.

Characteristics of the rare chronic meningococcemia include intermittent fever, rash, joint pain, and an enlarged spleen.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Vitamin C deficiency: Signs and symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Clinical features of vitamin C deficiency appear as capillaries become increasingly fragile. In an adult, it produces petechiae, ecchymoses, follicular hyperkeratosis (especially on the buttocks and legs),anemia, anorexia, limb and joint pain (especially in the knees), pallor, weakness, swollen or bleeding gums, loose teeth, lethargy, insomnia, poor wound healing, and ocular hemorrhages in the bulbar conjunctivae. (See Scurvy’s effect on gums and legs.) Vitamin C deficiency can also cause beading,fractures of the costochondral junctions of the ribs or epiphysis, and such psychological disturbances as irritability, depression, hysteria, and hypochondriasis.

In a child, vitamin C deficiency produces tender, painful swelling in the legs, causing the child to lie with his legs partially flexed. Other symptoms include fever, diarrhea, and vomiting.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

West Nile encephalitis: Signs and symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Mild infections of the virus are more common and include fever, headache, and body aches, usually accompanied by a skin rash and swollen lymph glands. Severe infections can be manifested by headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, occasional convulsions, paralysis and, rarely, death.

The incubation period for West Nile encephalitis is anywhere from 5 to 15 days after exposure. Most patients who are bitten by an infected mosquito won’t develop symptoms. It's estimated that only 1 in 300 people who are bitten by an infected mosquito will actually get sick.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Encephalitis: Signs and symptoms
(Handbook of Diseases)

All viral forms of encephalitis have similar clinical features, although certain differences do occur.

Usually, the acute illness begins with sudden onset of fever, headache, and vomiting and progresses to include signs and symptoms of meningeal irritation (stiff neck and back) and neuronal damage (drowsiness, coma, paralysis, seizures, ataxia, and organic psychoses). After the acute phase of the illness, coma may persist for days or weeks.

The severity of arbovirus encephalitis may range from subclinical to rapidly fatal necrotizing disease. Herpes encephalitis also produces signs and symptoms that vary from subclinical to acute and commonly fatal fulminating disease. Associated effects include disturbances of taste or smell.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Handbook of Diseases, 2003

Headache: Signs and symptoms
(Handbook of Diseases)

Migraine headaches and muscle contraction headaches have different signs and symptoms.

Migraine headache

Initially, a migraine headache usually produces unilateral, pulsating pain that later becomes more generalized. The headache is commonly preceded by a scintillating scotoma, hemianopsia, unilateral paresthesia, or speech disorders. The patient may experience irritability, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and photophobia. (See Clinical features of headache, page 364.)

Muscle contraction headache

A muscle contraction headache produces a dull, persistent ache; tender spots on the head and neck; and a feeling of tightness around the head, with a characteristic “hatband” distribution. The pain is usually severe and unrelenting.

If caused by intracranial bleeding, the muscle contraction headache may result in neurologic deficits, such as paresthesia and muscle weakness; narcotics fail to relieve the pain in these cases. If the headache is caused by a tumor, pain is most severe when the patient awakens.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Handbook of Diseases, 2003

West Nile encephalitis: Signs and symptoms
(Handbook of Diseases)

Mild WNV infections are more common than severe infections and include symptoms such as fever, headache, and body aches, often accompanied by swollen lymph glands and a skin rash. Severe infections present with symptoms such as headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, occasional convulsions, paralysis and, rarely, death.

The incubation period for West Nile encephalitis is 5 to 15 days after exposure.

CLINICAL TIP: Researchers estimate that only 1 in 300 people who are bitten by a mosquito infected with WNV actually develops the disease.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Handbook of Diseases, 2003

Assure coverage for resistantStreptococcus pneumoniae with vancomycin if there is a concernfor meningitis: Meningitis Signs and Symptoms
(Avoiding Common Pediatric Errors)

Patients with central nervous system (CNS) infections, regardless of the etiology (bacterial, viral, or other), generally present with similar clinical features. The systemic signs of CNS infection include fever, malaise, and impairment of essential organs (heart, lung, liver, or kidney function). For older children and adults, the classic signs and symptoms suggesting CNS infection include headache; stiff neck; fever or hypothermia; changes in mental status, including hyperirritability evolving into lethargy and coma; seizures; and focal sensory and motor deficits.

Infants and young children, however, may lack obvious signs of meningitis, and present with simple temperature instability rather than fever. Otherwise, lethargy, irritability, vomiting, and poor feeding are often signs of CNS involvement in this group. Nuchal rigidity or a bulging fontanelle is present in <50% of infants and young children with meningitis.

>

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Avoiding Common Pediatric Errors, 2008

Meningitis: Meningitis - signs & symptoms
(The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult)

  • Pain
  • Fever
  • Nausea and/or vomiting

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult, 2008

Meningitis: Presentation
(Pediatric Infectious Disease)

Patients with bacterial meningitis typically present with high fevers, headache, and an altered mental state. The classic clinical triad of bacterial meningitis is fever, nuchal rigidity, and a change in mental status, although only two thirds of patients with bacterial meningitis actually have all three of these symptoms. Kernig ’s sign is a clinical examination technique whereby 90% flexion of the hips causes subsequent painful extension of the legs. Brudzinski ’s sign is involuntary flexion of the knees and hips after passive flexion of the neck while supine. Although these clinical signs have traditionally been used to evaluate for bacterial meningitis, recent studies in adults have found that Kernig ’s and Brudzinski’s signs actually have a low sensitivity for predicting the presence of bacterial meningitis. The entire clinical picture should be used in determining whether to obtain a lumbar puncture.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Pediatric Infectious Disease, 2004

Article Excerpts About Symptoms of Meningococcal disease:

Meningococcal Disease (General): DBMD (Excerpt)

High fever, headache, and stiff neck are common symptoms of meningitis in anyone over the age of 2 years. These symptoms can develop over several hours, or they may take 1 to 2 days. Other symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, discomfort looking into bright lights, confusion, and sleepiness. In newborns and small infants, the classic symptoms of fever, headache, and neck stiffness may be absent or difficult to detect, and the infant may only appear slow or inactive, or be irritable, have vomiting, or be feeding poorly. As the disease progresses, patients of any age may have seizures. (Source: excerpt from Meningococcal Disease (General): DBMD)

Meningococcal Disease: DBMD (Excerpt)

Fever, headache and stiff neck in meningitis cases, and sepsis and rash in meningococcemia. (Source: excerpt from Meningococcal Disease: DBMD)

Meningococcal disease as a Cause of Symptoms or Medical Conditions

When considering symptoms of Meningococcal disease, it is also important to consider Meningococcal disease as a possible cause of other medical conditions. The Disease Database lists the following medical conditions that Meningococcal disease may cause:

- (Source - Diseases Database)

Meningococcal disease: Onset and Incubation

Onset of Meningococcal disease: The onset of the disease may be rapid and may start with an upper respiratory infection or sore throat. The infection occurs more often in winter or spring and may cause local epidemics at boarding schools, college dormitories, or military bases.

Incubation period for Meningococcal disease: 2-10 days, typically 3-4 days.

Incubation period for Meningococcal disease: symptoms can develop over several hours, or they may take 1 to 2 days. (Source: excerpt from Meningococcal Disease (General): DBMD)

Medical articles and books on symptoms:

These general reference articles may be of interest in relation to medical signs and symptoms of disease in general:

Full list of premium articles on symptoms and diagnosis

About signs and symptoms of Meningococcal disease:

The symptom information on this page attempts to provide a list of some possible signs and symptoms of Meningococcal disease. This signs and symptoms information for Meningococcal disease has been gathered from various sources, may not be fully accurate, and may not be the full list of Meningococcal disease signs or Meningococcal disease symptoms. Furthermore, signs and symptoms of Meningococcal disease may vary on an individual basis for each patient. Only your doctor can provide adequate diagnosis of any signs or symptoms and whether they are indeed Meningococcal disease symptoms.


 » Next page: Diagnostic Tests for Meningococcal disease

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