How long does it take to fully recover from bacterial meningitis?

Most people feel better within 7 to 10 days. In the meantime, it can help to: get plenty of rest. take painkillers for a headache or general aches.

Can you fully recover from bacterial meningitis?

Bacterial meningitis is serious. Some people with the infection die and death can occur in as little as a few hours. However, most people recover from bacterial meningitis. Those who do recover can have permanent disabilities, such as brain damage, hearing loss, and learning disabilities.

Does meningitis stay in your body forever?

With quick treatment, many people with bacterial meningitis don't have any permanent problems. However, even with prompt treatment, some may battle seizures, brain damage, hearing loss, and disability for the rest of their lives. Meningitis can be fatal and some people with this infection will die.

What are the after effects of bacterial meningitis?

Hence, bacterial meningitis is associated with learning and memory deficits, cognitive deficiencies and sensorimotor impairments including hearing and visual loss, and motor dysfunction [9]–[11]. Up to a third of all survivors suffer transient or permanent deafness or other neurological sequelae [12].

Can bacterial meningitis come back after treatment?

If one episode of meningitis was caused by a drug, meningitis may recur if people take the drug again. Meningitis caused by rupture of a brain cyst may also recur.

Dr. Pritish Tosh discusses bacterial meningitis

Can meningitis cause long-term problems?

Most people make a full recovery from meningitis, but it can sometimes cause serious long-term problems and can be life threatening.

Can meningitis cause permanent brain damage?

The disease can also occur when certain bacteria invade the meninges directly. Bacterial meningitis can cause stroke, hearing loss, and permanent brain damage.

Does meningitis weaken your immune system?

These studies show that meningitis can permanently affect the body's immune system. We now know that even beyond immediate life-threatening problems, meningitis can cause other issues down the road.

How long do symptoms of bacterial meningitis last?

How long does meningitis last? Viral meningitis lasts about 7-10 days with symptoms receding gradually. Bacterial meningitis is usually cured by antibiotics. The time to cure varies with each individual and corresponds with the decrease of symptoms.

Can meningitis change your personality?

Going through this disease is traumatic and everyone will respond differently. It is common for people to experience a range of feelings, like anger, depression, isolation, anxiety, low self-esteem, aggression, mood swings and a difficulty in expressing emotions.

How do you regain strength after meningitis?

Chronic fatigue, often a residual effect of bacterial meningitis, is treated by stretching your muscles to relax the body, and gentle progressive exercises with resistance bands or squeezing an object in the hands can help you regain strength. Another lingering symptom of bacterial meningitis is abnormal posture.

What is the survival rate of bacterial meningitis?

WHAT IS THE PROGNOSIS? Prognosis of meningitis depends on the cause. Untreated bacterial meningitis has a very high death rate. Even with appropriate treatment, the death rate from bacterial meningitis is about 15-20%, with a higher death rate associated with increasing age.

Why is bacterial meningitis worse than viral?

Typically in bacterial meningitis the white cell count is much higher than in viral meningitis (and is a different type of white cell), the protein is much higher and the glucose is much lower than in viral meningitis.

What is the most common complication of a bacterial meningitis infection?

Hydrocephalus may develop at the beginning of the illness or weeks later after diagnosis with bacterial meningitis. The most common type of hydrocephalus after bacterial meningitis is communicating hydrocephalus; seen in up to 52% of cases with hydrocephalus [74].

How does meningitis affect a person's daily life?

Although viral meningitis is rarely life threatening, it can make very people unwell and leave them with a number of life altering after effects. These can include depression, exhaustion, concentration and balance problems, headaches and mood swings.

How long are you in the hospital for bacterial meningitis?

If the spinal fluid tests show your teen has bacterial meningitis, they'll need to keep up with the antibiotics until the infection goes away, possibly for as long as 2 weeks. Because bacterial meningitis can spread easily to others, they'll probably stay in an isolated room for at least 48 hours.

How long does it take meningitis to go away?

In most cases, there is no specific treatment for viral meningitis. Most people who get mild viral meningitis usually recover completely in 7 to 10 days without treatment. Antiviral medicine may help people with meningitis caused by viruses such as herpesvirus and influenza.

Can meningitis symptoms come and go?

Symptoms of meningitis in children vary depending on the type of meningitis. Viral meningitis often causes mild, flu-like symptoms (fever and headache) that go away on their own. Bacterial meningitis can have more serious symptoms and requires medical care right away.

Is bacterial meningitis common?

In the United States, approximately 2,600 sporadic cases of Bacterial Meningitis are reported each year. Meningitis caused by pneumococcal infections affects about 1.1 in 100,000 individuals. Meningitis caused by haemophilus influenza affects about . 2 in 100,000 individuals.

Can you get disability for meningitis?

Chronic Meningitis

If you suffer meningitis that is resistant to treatment or requires hospitalization or intravenous treatment at least three times within 12 months, then you may qualify for Social Security disability according to the Blue Book Listing of Impairments Section 14.07(A)(2).

What organs are affected by meningitis?

Meningitis is an inflammation (swelling) of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. A bacterial or viral infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord usually causes the swelling.

How do people get bacterial meningitis?

Bacteria that enter the bloodstream and travel to the brain and spinal cord cause acute bacterial meningitis. But it can also occur when bacteria directly invade the meninges. This may be caused by an ear or sinus infection, a skull fracture, or — rarely — some surgeries.

Does meningitis cause memory loss?

After recovering from meningitis, some people continue to experience problems with memory. This can be a result of neurological damage during the illness. According to the Meningitis Research Foundation, both meningitis and sepsis resulting from meningitis can lead to memory loss and difficulty retaining information.

Can meningitis damage nerves?

Some long-term effects of meningitis might begin to become apparent during the acute phase of the condition due to brain or nerve damage—and these symptoms often persist. The nerves that control hearing can be damaged by infectious meningitis, leading to permanent hearing loss.

What damage does meningitis cause?

Long-term brain problems occur in 25 to 50 percent of people who survive meningitis. These problems include: brain damage. deafness.