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. 

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.

How are viral diseases treated?

Treatment of viral infections varies depending on the specific virus and other factors. General treatment measures are aimed at relieving your symptoms so that you can get the rest you need to keep up your strength and recover without developing complications.

General treatments for viral infections include:

    Acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) for fever, body aches, and pain

    Drinking extra fluids

    Getting extra rest and sleep

    Maintaining good nutrition

Depending on the type of viral infection and the presence of complications, a wide variety of other treatments may be needed. For example, a human papillomavirus (HPV) infection that leads to cervical dysplasia can be treated by surgical removal of the abnormal cells on a woman’s cervix.  

In general, it is recommended that children younger than age six not use cold or cough medications because of the risk for serious side effects. In addition, people with a viral disease should not use aspirin or products that contain aspirin because of the risk of developing a rare but life-threatening condition called Reye syndrome. Reye syndrome has been linked to taking aspirin during a viral illness, such as a cold or the flu.
Prescription medications used to treat viral diseases

In some cases, certain medications may be prescribed to treat viral diseases:

    Antiretroviral medications, which can help people with HIV/AIDS lead longer lives. Antiretroviral medications hinder the ability of HIV to reproduce, which slows the spread of HIV in the body.

    Antiviral drugs, which minimize the severity and length of some viral infections, such as the flu and shingles, especially in people who are at a high risk for serious complications. For example, the drugs oseltamivir (brand name Tamiflu) and zanamivir (brand name Relenza) may be prescribed for some cases of flu. These drugs are not appropriate for all people with the flu.

Antibiotics, which are not prescribed for viral diseases because they are ineffective in the treatment of viral infections, may be prescribed if a person with a viral disease develops a secondary bacterial infection, such as bacterial pneumonia, bacterial bronchitis, or encephalitis.
Complementary treatments

Complementary and traditional treatments will not cure a viral disease but may help to increase comfort, promote rest, and minimize symptoms of viral diseases. 

Steroids and Viral Infections in Kids

Researchers have discovered the wheezing and steroids don't mix when it comes to children. Two studies show that steroids do not change the course of viral infections in children.

The researchers tested 700 children aged 10 months to 5 years old. The study showed that children stayed in hospital the same amount of time regardless if they had steroids or not from viral infections that caused wheezing.
At this time doctors treat wheezing from infections the same as they do in asthmatic children.
The study also showed that steroids didn't change the symptoms over the following seven days.

A second study compared the use of steroids and a placebo in 129 children aged 1 to 6. The children were given one of the two at the first sign of nasal congestion, sore throat or any other symptom that might show an upper respiratory tract infection was coming on. The children received the treatment for up to 10 days twice daily. The drug seemed to help.
Eighteen percent of the children in the placebo group had to have additional steroid drugs. The children that had used steroids needing the additional medication was at eight percent.
The children using steroids grew less though than the ones in the placebo group.

Neuro Viral Infections

Neural infections are among the most abundant organic diseases of the nervous system. Many infectious diseases of the nervous system have long been known, but only a small part of neural infections caused by bacterial pathogens, was studied in more detail. Etiologic factor in the large area neural infections are different viruses.

The widespread use of antibiotics and various chemotherapeutic agents changed the clinical picture of many very common ailments.

Through the use of antibiotics clinical manifestations neural infections to date is subject to change. Clinic septic diseases of the nervous system caused by the use of antibiotics has also undergone a change. Preventive vaccination against polio has left a mark on its clinical manifestations.

Certain diseases as highlighted only in recent years. Examples of such diseases is toxoplasmosis torulez. There are new, as yet little-studied forms, such as seasonal encephalitis, make up a large group of modern neural infections.

In the study of the pathogenesis of neural infections a lot of achievements. This applies to both bacterial and viral neural infections. An example of the unresolved questions of pathogenesis neural infections is a whole group of encephalomyelitis and close to him multiple sclerosis in its acute and chronic forms.

In the treatment of many infectious diseases of the nervous system of traditional medicine has advanced far ahead. But with regard to treatment of infections neural infections are many gaps, and there are no results that would allow them to talk about the possibility of rational treatment.