How serious are the effects of meningitis in children?

Meningitis is a serious disease caused by an infection leading to inflammation of the meninges. Because of the imperfection of the immune system, this disease is more likely to affect children.

According to the research of scientists, every third of the children,who later suffered from this disease, subsequently has mental disorders, learning disabilities or epilepsy, and one in five has increased anxiety or behavioral disorders.

Consequences of meningitis in children (viral or serous meningitis)

Viral meningitis is more common thanbacterial, and although it rarely threatens life, but recovery from illness can be slow, and its consequences are long-term, sometimes manifested only during puberty.

As a rule, they include a headache,memory impairment, fatigue, anxiety, depression, dizziness and coordination problems. In some children, aseptic meningitis can cause an increase in the amount of cerebrospinal fluid, which in turn can lead to hydrocephalus, hearing loss and vision loss.

Consequences of meningitis in children (bacterial meningitis)

Most often, the most serious complicationsthere is a field of bacterial disease. About 15% of people suffering from it, remain with problems requiring constant medical support. This can be a loss of hearing, as well as worsening or total loss of vision associated with damage to the optic nerve.

Dangerous complications are problems with the brain,which can cause epilepsy and cerebral palsy. By the way, about what consequences after a meningitis are available at the patient, sometimes it is possible to judge not at once, but only in months or even years after the transferred disease.

Equally serious are emergingdifficulties in learning associated with this disease. Fortunately, they tend to be short-lived and recover over time. But here aggressiveness, diligence, sleep disorders, difficulty concentrating and a tendency to hysterics can stay with the child for a long time.

Purulent meningitis in children: consequences

A variety of bacterial meningitis, purulent,Is the most severe form of the disease. It can end in a lethal outcome. But more often it is persistent paralysis or unilateral paresis of the face and limbs, cerebral infarction, encephalitis, as well as dropsy of the brain (hydrocephalus).

No less serious are organicdamage to the brain, in which it can disappear, for example, the centers of hunger or thirst. This forces the patient to live strictly according to the schedule, controlling himself constantly.

Common consequences of meningitis in children

Meningitis is a disease that affects the complexan important organ that controls the processes that take place in our body - the brain. Children who have undergone it in mild form and without complications, still suffer from migraines or periodically occur hormonal failures.

Even if the pronounced effects of meningitis inchildren are absent, they have two more years to stand on a regular basis and regularly undergo examinations with a neurologist, infectious disease specialist and pediatrician. Only if the residual effects of the disease have not been found, the child is considered to be recovered.