Viral Meningitis Basics

Less serious than bacterial meningitis, viral meningitis is associated with a number of infections, including chickenpox, Lyme disease, and even rabies.

 Meningitis occurs when the lining protecting the brain and spinal cord — called the meninges — becomes inflamed. There are two main kinds of meningitis, bacterial meningitis and viral meningitis. Bacterial meningitis is a potentially fatal condition that can have severe after-effects, including brain damage, deafness, limb amputation, and stroke. Viral meningitis, also called aseptic meningitis, is milder and more common than bacterial meningitis, rarely has any long-term after-effects, and is seldom fatal. Statistics vary, but it is thought that viral meningitis causes between 25,000 and 50,000 hospital visits each year in the United States.

Children are more likely than adults to get viral meningitis. Children under the age of 5 are most vulnerable.

Causes of Viral Meningitis

Nearly 90 percent of viral meningitis cases are caused by viruses in the enterovirus family, which is a group of common viruses. The viruses usually enter the body through the mouth and then travel to the brain and tissues around it. Coxsackie viruses and echoviruses are among the primary offenders.

Other viruses that can cause viral meningitis are:

    Chickenpox virus (varicella virus)
    Mumps virus
    West Nile virus
    Viruses transmitted by bites from infected mosquitoes
    Rabies virus
    Type 1 and type 2 herpes viruses
    HIV

Meningitis can also be caused by a direct infection of the meninges.

Symptoms of Viral Meningitis

Viral meningitis has symptoms that are similar to the flu:

    Severe headache
    Stiff neck
    Eyes sensitive to light
    Chills
    Fever
    Muscle pain
    Sore throat
    Drowsiness
    Confusion
    Rash
    Abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting

Symptoms may last anywhere from a week to 10 days.

Treating Viral Meningitis

As with other viruses such as the common cold, the symptoms of viral meningitis can be managed by resting, drinking plenty of fluids, and taking medication to relieve symptoms. These measures will help you feel more comfortable, but they don’t actually cure the infection.

If the meningitis is caused by a very contagious virus such as chickenpox, your doctor will prescribe antiviral medication.

Most patients recover completely from viral meningitis although, in some cases, the patient may experience continuing headaches, fatigue, and depression.

Is Viral Meningitis Contagious?

Yes. The most common causes of viral meningitis, enteroviruses, are spread when there is direct contact with an infected patient’s saliva, mucus, or sputum. This can happen when you touch a person or object that is infected and then touch your own nose or mouth. Viral meningitis is also spread by coughing and sneezing.

The stool of someone who is infected can also carry the virus. In this case, the virus is spread primarily among young children who haven’t been toilet trained. Adults who change diapers of an infected baby may also catch the virus.

Remember that catching an enterovirus doesn’t mean it will develop into viral meningitis. In fact, fewer than 1 in 1,000 people who get sick from one of the viruses associated with viral meningitis go on to develop it.

How to Prevent Viral Meningitis

There are several ways to reduce your chances of getting a virus that can turn into meningitis:

    Get vaccinated. Be sure that you and your children have been vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella (the MMR vaccine), and chickenpox — all viruses that can cause meningitis.
    Avoid mosquitoes. Because mosquito-borne viruses can cause meningitis, using insect repellant and avoiding the outdoors during periods when mosquitoes are most active (dusk to dawn) is important.
    Wash your hands. Another crucial way to avoid being infected is to be mindful of personal hygiene. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water after you sneeze, cough, shake hands, use the toilet, and change diapers. Also be sure to wash your hands before you cook or eat.
    Disinfect. If you are around someone who has viral meningitis, clean and disinfect surfaces and objects, first with soap and water, and then with bleach that contains chlorine. (Mix about a quarter of a cup of bleach to a gallon of water.)

Remember, your best chance of avoiding viral meningitis is to be vaccinated against diseases known to cause viral meningitis and to wash your hands regularly. Thorough hand-washing can protect you from not only viral meningitis, but lots of other diseases. 

Anabolic steroid effects on immune function

In order to understand how anabolic steroids effect the immune system, you must first understand how the immune system works.
The organs of the immune system are stationed throughout the body. They are generally referred to as lymphoid organs because that are concerned with the growth, development, and deployment or lymphocytes, the white cells that are the base of the immune system. These organs include bone marrow, thymus, lymph nodes, and spleen.

Immune cells, like all other cells, are produced in the bone marrow. There are two main classes of immune cells or lymphocytes as they are called. These are known as T cells and B cells. T cells mature in an organ know as the thymus. Most T and B cells congregate in the various immune organs, while other travel around in the blood stream.

The lymph nodes house both T and B cells. These cells work together though different mechanisms. They are very dependent on each other. By effecting one group of cells, you throw off the entire function of the immune responce. Now a little bit about B cells and T cells.

B cells work chiefly by secreting soluble substances called antibodies into the bodies fluids or humors. This is known as humoral immunity. Antibodies typically interact with circulating antigens such as bacteria and toxic molecules, but are unable to penetrate living cells. T cells interact directly with their targets, attacking body cells that have been commandeered by viruses.
There are different subsets of T cells which carry out various functions.

Each B cell is programmed to make one specific antibody. When a B cell manufactures millions of identical antibody molecules and pures them into the bloodstream. A given antibody matches a given antigen much as a key matches a lock. These antibodies indentify the antigen and mark it for destruction. Antibodies can work in several ways, depending on the nature of the antigen.

T cells contribute to the immune defenses in two major ways. Regulatory T cells do one thing and Cytotoxic T cells do another. Regulatory T cells are vital to orchestrating the elaborate system.
Cytotoxic T cells on the other hand directly attack body cells that are infected. T cells work directly by secreting substances known as lymphokines. Lymphokines call into play many other cells and substances, including the elements of the inflammmatory responce.

Once you under stand why T cells and B cells are dependent on each other, it is easier to understand how AAS effects this partnership. I will discuss this in the next thread. I do suggest that everyone do some research and understand this more specifically. I basiclly just summerized how the immune system functions.


Although I could not find any specific studies regarding how AAS effects immune function, I was able to piece together several articles and come up with a general idea of how this works.
The immune system has two basic types of defense cells. The B cells which make up the Humoral immunity, and T cells that make up the cell immunity.

First the T cells are formed in the thymus. These T cells work directly by attacking the invading virus. Explaining all the actions of T cells would take forever to do. If you want to do more, there are loads of info on this available at other sites. Most AAS are known to suppress Cellular immunity, although they stimulate humoral immunity.

What first brought this to my attention were the vast number of articles relating to using AAS to treat autoimmune diseases. Most autoimmune diseases are caused by various T cells attacking your own body.

Small doses of winstrol, and deca, have been shown to have no effect on the cellular immunity, but still improves humoral immunity. It is also know that many AAS including deca have been shown to be antiinflammatory. Although I believe that deca accomplishes this through a different function as compared to the rest. This is greatly because cellular immunity is what causes inflammation.

Viral Infection

A viral infection is any type of infection that is caused by a virus.

A virus is a germ that is smaller than a bacteria. Viruses are encapsulated by a protective coating so they are more difficult to kill than bacteria. They are harder to treat because they are not susceptible to antibiotics like bacteria are because of their protective coating. However, viruses cannot grow or exist without host cells - they must be in a living organism (such as the human body) to survive.

Common Viral Infections

Viral infections can cause illnesses as minor as the common cold and as severe as AIDS. Many times people will be diagnosed with a viral infection but not get any more specific information about the virus that is causing the symptoms. Usually when this happens, the symptoms are relatively minor and you will recover without any treatment. Health care providers don't always know the exact virus that is causing the illness. This is when you will get the diagnosis of a "viral infection" with no specific name.

Other common viral infections include:

    The Flu
    Viral Pneumonia
    RSV
    Croup
    Stomach Flu (Gastroenteritis)
    Chickenpox

Treating Viral Infections

Antibiotics do not kill viruses and the use of them for viral infections just leads to antibiotic resistance. There are only a few antiviral medications available to treat very specific viruses, and they are not always effective. In some cases steroids are effective.

However, there are vaccines available to help prevent many infections. If you have a minor illness and your health care provider tells you that it is a viral infection, the best thing to do is to treat the symptoms if you are able to and just let it run its course.

Anti-Inflammatory Medications in Cystic Fibrosis Treatment

Eventually, most people with any type of chronic lung disease will find themselves taking an anti-inflammatory medication at some point in their treatment. Anti-inflammatory medications improve breathing by reducing swelling of the air passages. Some anti-inflammatory medications are taken for short periods to help speed recovery when a patient has a respiratory infection or other problem causing a flare-up of breathing difficulty. Some anti-inflammatory medications are taken long-term to help prevent swollen air passages and improve lung function.

Corticosteroids vs. Anabolic Steroids

Corticosteroids: Medications that imitate the effects of a hormone produced in the adrenal gland called "cortisol," which has many functions in the body including fighting stress and reducing inflammation.

Anabolic steroids: Synthetic versions of male sex hormones that increase male characteristics. Athletes sometimes use them illegally to increase muscle mass and strength. There are legitimate medical conditions for which anabolic steroids may be prescribed, but lung disease is not one of them.

Oral steroids, such as prednisone, prednisolone or methylprednisone, are sometimes prescribed to people with cystic fibrosis (CF) for short-term treatment. They are not recommended for long-term therapy because of the potential for serious side effects including:

    Growth retardation in children
    Diabetes
    Cataracts
    Osteoporosis
    Decreased ability to fight lung infections, such as the potentially deadly Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Inhaled Steroids

Inhaled steroids, such as Qvar (beclomethasone), Pulmicort (budesonide) and Flovent (flucticasone), are delivered directly to the lungs and have less side effects than oral steroids. Studies have not shown any particular benefit of long-term inhaled steroids for people with cystic fibrosis, though, so the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation advises against the routine use of inhaled steroids in people with CF unless they also have asthma.