Viral meningitis is the most popular type of meningitis, not because it is fatal, but due to its widespread prevalence. Despite being the most common type of meningitis, viral meningitis is milder compared to bacterial meningitis, which is good news. People can even get better on their own without treatment! This does not mean that seeing the doctor is not required; quite the contrary because the doctor is the only one who is qualified to determine the cause of the symptoms, and only he can differentiate between the different types of meningitis using history, clinical examination, and various tests.
Despite being milder than bacterial meningitis, viral meningitis is associated with risk factors such as being too old or too young or having lower immunity for any cause, which allows viral meningitis to be fatal and lead to death. Because of this, we should pay extra attention to people with conditions that can disrupt their body’s ability to fight diseases. Many viruses can reach the meninges causing viral meningitis, but the most common types are:
- Enteroviruses, especially non-polio types of Enterovirus. These viruses are common in the period between the ends of spring and the beginning of fall. This is why many doctors see viral meningitis as a seasonal disease. You can see that for yourself when you look at the trend of the disease. Unfortunately, this period correlates with school-time, so extra care is required to this age group to protect them and detect any cases early and stop any source of an epidemic.
- Despite the non-polio type of Enterovirus being the most common, other types can cause viral meningitis like mumps virus, herpes viruses, measles virus, and even influenza virus, among others.
Epidemiology
Viral meningitis can spread by close contacting a diseased person; this is why early detection of cases is critical because at the beginning of the disease, it is very hard for nonprofessional and even some doctors to classify meningitis. Early detection of cases protects other individuals, in particular people with low immunity who can get the infection more easily due to their compromised immune system. Fortunately, it is much harder to get viral meningitis because the viruses are weak, so it is still somewhat unlikely.
What makes viral meningitis dangerous is its early general symptoms that look very similar to a cold or sore throat. This increases the probability of neglect from parents and schoolteachers. If this happens, the infected child with viral meningitis may still go to school even when he is sick, which can lead to more cases of viral meningitis at school.
Early symptoms of the disease include:
- Fever
- irritability
- Anorexia (low appetite)
- Lethargy
Other more alarming symptoms that require early medical help include:
- A stiff neck
- Photosensitivity (patients who cannot look directly at the light)
- Vomiting, especially if it is projectile.
If we wish to make a distinction between viral meningitis and bacterial meningitis, especially in the symptoms, we can say that in general, bacterial meningitis symptoms are more severe and may be associated with other fatal illness caused by bacteria, such as sepsis (presence of the bacteria and its toxins in the bloodstream).
High fever is also more commonly associated with bacterial meningitis than viral meningitis.
Nevertheless, in many cases, the symptoms may start mild in bacterial meningitis and fool the patient into believing that it is viral meningitis or even a cold.
This is why seeking medical care, especially if you have any risk factor that causes your immune system to be below the average, is the best option for you.
The diagnosis
The doctor will make the diagnosis based on your medical history and symptoms, so make sure to be precise and give accurate information as possible. Do not feel shy to say I do not remember, or I am not sure. This is always better than lying and giving false or inaccurate information to the doctor. Faking symptoms or giving a wrong history to the doctor may misguide him and delay the appropriate treatment for you.
The doctor will look at the signs your body shows and hear the symptoms you feel, then will usually order some tests for you. These tests may include swab of your throat or respiratory tract, as this is typically the place where bacteria that cause bacterial meningitis are present.
You may be wondering now why the doctor search for bacterial meningitis? Isn’t the disease we are talking about a viral type of meningitis?
Here you should know about what doctors call differential diagnosis. Differential diagnosis is having symptoms and signs that are shared between more than one disease, so doctors in these cases try to exclude the most common, the most dangerous or easier to diagnose first. So, in our case, it is required to exclude the most dangerous disease, which is bacterial meningitis, by checking for the presence of the bacteria that may cause it in the throat where it usually resides.
Doctors may also draw some blood from you and require a cerebrospinal fluid sample to test them.
Treatment
If your diagnosis came to be viral meningitis, then usually you will not require any treatment and will only need observation, generally at home, to ensure your case does not get worse. You will usually recover after a week or 10 days.
If your case requires treatment, you will usually get antiviral drugs, especially if the virus causing meningitis is influenza.
Until now, there is no vaccine for non-polio enteroviruses, despite being responsible for most of the viral cases of meningitis.
You still can protect yourself by maintaining a good immune system through proper eating habits, self-care, and staying away from people who have viral meningitis until they get better.
Fortunately, there is a vaccine for some of the other viruses that can cause viral meningitis:
Mumps and measles viruses
Measles has a vaccine, which is given with the vaccine for mumps and rubella; the name is MMR vaccine. The first dose is administered at the age of 12-15 months and the second dose is administered at the age of 4-6 years. The reason why the vaccine is delayed until the age of one year is due to the presence of antibodies from the mother in the baby’s system until this period.
Influenza virus
This virus is very tricky as it changes its structure continuously. This is why the vaccine needs to be replaced and administered once again every year to adapt to these changes.