Do You Have A Stuffy Nose With Meningitis

Do You Have A Stuffy Nose With Meningitis ?

Meningitis is an infection caused by either viruses or bacteria and if the body immunity is weak it enters the central nervous system. This gives rise to inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and the spinal cord. At this stage if the condition is not identified and the patient does not get proper medical care, it can lead to serious complications including death.

The most common symptoms are stiff neck, high fever, sensitivity to light, confusion, splitting headaches, nausea and vomiting. Even if there is early detection of the disease and timely therapy is started, 5 to 10 percent of the cases end in death. The death can occur within 24 to 48 hours of the manifestation of the symptoms. It may result in brain damage, hearing loss or learning disability in 10 to 20 percent of the survivors. Meningitis disease is to be considered as a medical emergency. It is a life threatening disease and the mortality rate is high if timely treatment is not provided.

In adults most common symptom observed is a severe headache. This is observed in as many as 87 percent of the cases. Second in priority is the neck stiffness. Other symptoms are photophobia, which is intolerance to bright light and phonophobia, which is intolerance to noises.

So, do you have a stuffy nose with meningitis? The answer is no. There are no nose related symptoms here. Bacteria reach the meninges by mainly two routes. It can reach through the blood stream. Otherwise it can enter through the nasal cavity or the skin. Stuffy nose is not a symptom for this disease even though the bacteria may follow nasal passage route. Hence, the possibility of a stuffy nose with meningitis is ruled out.

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There are protective membranes that cover the brain and the spinal cord, which is known as meninges. The medical condition when inflammation is caused in meninges is known meningitis. The cause for such an inflammation is due to infection from viruses or bacteria or other microorganisms. Meningitis can also develop from certain drugs or other diseases. More..