Meningitis: A Deadly Disease

Being someone who was affected by meningitis, it has many affects on my life. Any person can get meningitis at any stage in their life. For example, when I was eight months old, my mother realized that I was getting really ill; I was not acting in a normal manner. She took me to Children's Mercy Hospital, and the doctors had told her that I had Spinal Meningitis. A brief definition of this disease would be that "[s]pinal meningitis is an infection of the fluid and membranes around the brain and spinal cord" ("Spinal Meningitis"). Meningitis is a disease that affects the spine and the brain, causes a lot of disabilities/after affects, has quite a few signs and symptoms, and also has some treatments that can help a person get rid of it.

Meningitis is a well known disease that can cause negative results to a person and causes negative results to the people around that person. Meningitis is a highly contagious disease. It can easily be spread by "coughs, laughs, talks or sneezes" ("Meningitis." KidsHealth). Meningitis can be found in "infants and children more than adults" ("Meningitis" Tabor's 1272). Meningitis by definition is the "[i]nflammation in the membranes of the spinal cord or brain, usually but not always causes by an infectious illness. It is fatal in 10% to 40% of cases" ("Meningitis" Tabor's 1272). It is found by the Meningitis Research Foundation that "[m]eningitis can kill in hours" ("About the Diseases"). There are two types of meningitis; these two types include bacterial and viral Meningitis. Bacterial meningitis is more deadly and can kill instantly. For those who suffer from bacterial meningitis there is "one in twelve survivors" ("After effects"). Obviously by its name, bacterial meningitis is caused by bacteria built up in the body. One main type of bacteria that causes meningitis is "Meningococcal bacteria" ("About the Diseases"). Other types of bacteria that cause bacterial meningitis are "Group B Streptococcus, Escherichia coli, and Listeria monocytogenes" ("Meningitis." KidsHealth). Viral meningitis is not as deadly, and it is easier to treat. This disease should be treated as soon as possible.

Meningitis can start out as seeming to be a basic flu, but it can be deadly in the end depending on how bad the disease really is. As mentioned above, I experienced having Meningitis when I was eight months old. It all started when I was only five months old though. When I was five months old, I had just a simple flu so that convinced my mother to take me, to the pediatrician. Once the pediatrician got done observing me all she did was give my mother some medication for the basic flu. My mother gave me the medicine, but it did not seem to help. My flu began to get worse so she took me again to the pediatrician, and the pediatrician still continued to tell my mother that I jus had the flu and it will go away soon. The pediatrician gave my mother some different medicine; she was hoping that this one would help this time, but it did not help. My flu continued to get worse and worse as the days/weeks went by. I did not act normal at all. A few weeks had past, and by this time I was eight months old. My flu just got so bad that my mother decided to take me to Children's Mercy Hospital. Once the doctors had examined me yet again, they had told my mother that she should have brought me in a whole lot earlier. They told my mother that I had spinal meningitis, which is a type of bacterial meningitis. The doctors took me back into the Emergency Room and took more tests on me. Meningitis is so deadly that I almost past away. I ended with one of the side affects to Meningitis though. I have had 95% hearing loss in my right ear ever since I was eight months, and the doctors released me from the hospital, and 5-10% hearing loss in my left. This disease is so contagious that my parents and some of my aunts and uncles had to get a shot to where they would be safe from Meningitis. I managed to pass on this flu to one of my uncles, and I gave the flu to one of my cousins as well. Nothing happened to my uncle or to my cousin because they were taken to the Hospital right away. Meningitis has really made an impact on my life.

Meningitis can cause several different types of disabilities and after affects. The disabilities and after affects of meningitis seem to be "temporary or permanent, physical or emotional" ("After Affects"). According to the Meningitis Research Foundation, there are nine different types of after affects. These after affects include "[m]emory loss/difficulty retaining information/lack of concentration, [c]lumsiness/co-ordination problems, [r]esidual headaches, [d]eafness/hearing problems/tinnitius/dizziness, loss of balance, [l]earning difficulties [...], [e]pilepsy/seizures (fits), [w]eakness, paralysis or spasms of part of body (if permanent, sometimes called cerebral palsy), [s]peech problems, [l]oss of sight/changes in sight" ("After effects"). Another effect that meningitis can cause is mortality. This can mostly happen to infants though. Even though there are multiple side affects, they can easily be temporary. Depending on how long someone has suffered from Meningitis will determine the after effects.

Of these nine after effects, I can relate to one major one that includes the hearing loss. Being able to hear is very crucial to many people. It is especially crucial to infants because being able to hear allows children to speak. Batshaw and Perret believe that "[d]amage to either the external or the middle ear causes a conductive hearing loss" (274). There are two types of hearing losses. These types of hearing loss are having hearing loss in one ear, unilateral, and having hearing loss in two ears, bilateral (275). As mentioned before, I have been hearing impaired ever since I was eight months old, and my hearing loss is unilateral. Doctors do not really know exactly why "half of all children" have hearing loss (275). To help treat hearing loss, antibiotics are given to the person (275).

Another after effect that I can relate to is the mortality rate towards infant. The reason why I do relate to this one is because I almost died from Meningitis. Batshaw and Perret state that most infants who do go through infections usually survive (74). It is also stated by Batshaw and Perret that "if the infection spreads to the brain, causing meningitis, the mortality rate rises to 30%-60%