Viral meningitis

Introduction: Viral meningitis

Viral meningitis: Meningitis is an illness in which there is inflammation of the tissues that cover the brain and spinal cord.  Viral or aseptic meningitis, ... more about Viral meningitis.

Viral meningitis: Brain membrane infection due to viruses. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Viral meningitis is available below.

Symptoms of Viral meningitis

• Symptoms of meningitis:
  • High fever
  • Severe headache
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting

See full list of 40 symptoms of Viral meningitis

Medical Textbooks Online about Viral meningitis

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Viral meningitis

• Lumbar puncture (spinal tap) - CSF tests for bacteria to rule out bacterial meningitis
• Blood culture - Blood tests for bacteria to rule out bacterial meningitis
• Meningococcal rash pressure test - test a skin rash for the "failure to whiten under pressure" property of a rash from meningococcus.

Read more about tests for Viral meningitis

Wrongly Diagnosed with Viral meningitis?

• Misdiagnosis of Viral meningitis
• Underlying causes of Viral meningitis (possibly wrongly diagnosed)

Misdiagnosis and Viral meningitis

Undiagnosed stroke leads to misdiagnosed aphasia: BBC News UK reported on a man who had been institutionalized and treated for mental illness because he suffered from sudden inability to speak. This was initially...read more »

Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for a patient to show mental decline to dementia. Whereas this can, of course, occur due to various medical conditions, such as a stroke...read more »

Mild traumatic brain injury often remains undiagnosed: Although the symptoms of severe brain injury are hard to miss, it is less clear for milder injuries, or even those causing a mild ...read more »

MTBI misdiagnosed as balance problem: When a person has symptoms such as vertigo or dizziness, a diagnosis of brain injury may go overlooked. This...read more »

Brain pressure condition often misdiagnosed as dementia: A condition that results from an excessive pressure of CSF within the brain is often misdiagnosed. It may be misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease...read more »

Post-concussive brain injury often misdiagnosed: A study found that soldiers who had suffered a concussive injury in battle often were misdiagnosed on their return. A variety of symptoms can...read more »

Children with migraine often misdiagnosed: A migraine often fails to be correctly diagnosed in pediatric patients. These patients are not the typical migraine sufferers, but migraines...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Viral meningitis

Causes of Viral meningitis

• Enteroviruses
• Arboviruses
• Measles
• Mumps
• Chicken pox

Read more about causes of Viral meningitis

More information about causes of Viral meningitis:

• Underlying causes of Viral meningitis
• Viral meningitis as a complication caused by other conditions
• Viral meningitis as a symptom
• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of Viral meningitis

Treatments for Viral meningitis

• Watchful waiting
• Symptomatic and supportive treatment

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Prognosis for Viral meningitis

Prognosis for Viral meningitis: Viral meningitis is generally less severe and resolves without specific treatment (Source: excerpt from Meningococcal Disease (General): DBMD) ... Viral (aseptic) meningitis is serious but rarely fatal in persons with normal immune systems. (Source: excerpt from Viral (Aseptic) Meningitis: DVRD)

More about prognosis of Viral meningitis

Prevention of Viral meningitis

Prevention information for Viral meningitis has been compiled from various data sources and may be inaccurate or incomplete. None of these methods guarantee prevention of Viral meningitis.

• Vaccinations - though unfortunately there are no vaccines against enteroviruses or arboviruses.
  • MMR vaccine - avoids rare viral meningitis from measles or mumps.
  • Varicella vaccine - avoids rare viral meningitis from chickenpox

Read more about prevention of Viral meningitis

Statistics for Viral meningitis

• Medical statistics for Viral meningitis
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Viral meningitis
• Death and Mortality statistics for Viral meningitis
• Society statistics for Viral meningitis

Types of Viral meningitis

• Enterovirus-caused meningitis
• Arbovirus-caused meningitis
• Measles-caused meningitis
• Mumps-caused meningitis
• Chickenpox-caused meningitis

Read more about Types of Viral meningitis

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Article Excerpts about Viral meningitis

Meningitis is an illness in which there is inflammation of the tissues that cover the brain and spinal cord.  Viral or aseptic meningitis, which is the most common type, is caused by an infection with one of several types of viruses.  Meningitis can also be caused by infections with several types of bacteria or fungi. (Source: excerpt from Viral (Aseptic) Meningitis: DVRD)

Definitions of Viral meningitis:

A syndrome characterized by headache, neck stiffness, low grade fever, and CSF lymphocytic pleocytosis in the absence of an acute bacterial pathogen. Viral meningitis is the most frequent cause although MYCOPLASMA INFECTIONS; RICKETTSIA INFECTIONS; diagnostic or therapeutic procedures; NEOPLASTIC PROCESSES; septic perimeningeal foci; and other conditions may result in this syndrome. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p745) - (Source - Diseases Database)