Actually, all politics are local and all meningitis is "spinal," since the infectious agent circulates freely through the medium of the spinal fluid between the brain and spinal cord.
This is the lay term for meningitis caused by the "meningococcus," Neiserria meningitidis.
Spinal meningitis is an infection in the fluid around the spinal cord and brain.
Spinal meningitis is an infection of the fluid and membranes around the brain and spinal cord. Once infection starts, it can spread rapidly through the body. Without treatment it can cause brain damage in a matter of hours and can be fatal within 24 hours.
Most often, the body's immune system is able to contain and defeat an infection. But if the infection passes into the bloodstream and then into the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, it can affect the nerves and travel to the brain and/or surrounding membranes, causing inflammation.
The swelling that results can harm or destroy nerve cells and cause bleeding in the brain.
Meningitis is an infection that causes inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Non-bacterial meningitis is often referred to as "aseptic meningitis." Bacterial meningitis may be referred to as "purulent meningitis."
Meningococcal meningitis is highly contagious by the respiratory route (you get it by breathing air that contains the germs, which are freely shed from the mucous membranes). It is particularly easy to transmit if conditions are crowded, for example in army barracks or college dormitories. Preventative antibiotics are routinely given to all contacts of the identified patient to prevent their colonization with the germ. In case you have not guessed by now, yes, smoking is a risk factor for catching the disease.
Meningococcal disease is especially frightening to doctors, because no matter how ardently we search for it, every once in a while we will miss a case, with fatal results. This is because the disease can start so insidiously, mimicing a trivial viral illness, with few if any definite symptoms. Luckily, the disease is rare, and if contracted and diagnosed in time, 100% curable in just a few days with no lasting effects from the meningitis (unlike most other forms of meningitis, where some handicap is often the result of infection).
