Meningitis is a serious disease caused by an infection leading to inflammation of the meninges. Due to imperfections in the immune system, this disease is more susceptible to children.
According to scientists, one in three of the children who have had this disease subsequently has mental disorders, learning problems 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 than bacterial meningitis , and although it rarely threatens life, recovery from the disease can be slow, and its consequences can be long-term, sometimes manifested only during puberty.
They typically include headache, memory impairment, fatigue, anxiety, depression, dizziness, and coordination problems. In some children, serous meningitis can provoke an increase in the number of cerebrospinal fluid, which, in turn, can lead to hydrocephalus, hearing loss and visual impairment.
The effects of meningitis in children (bacterial meningitis)
Most often, the most serious complications are found in the bacterial field of the disease. About 15% of the people who suffer from them remain with problems requiring constant medical support. This can be hearing loss, as well as impairment or complete loss of vision associated with damage to the optic nerve.
Dangerous complications are brain problems that can cause epilepsy and cerebral palsy. By the way, what consequences the patient has after meningitis can sometimes be judged not immediately, but only months or even years after the disease.
No less serious are the learning difficulties associated with this disease. Fortunately, they are usually short-term and recover over time. But aggressiveness, irritability, sleep disorders, difficulties with concentration and a tendency to tantrums can stay with the child for a long time.
Purulent meningitis in children: consequences
A form of bacterial meningitis, purulent, is the most severe form of the disease. It can be fatal. But more often it is persistent paralysis or unilateral paresis of the face and limbs, cerebral infarction, encephalitis, and also dropsy of the brain (hydrocephalus).
Organic damage to the brain is no less serious, in which, for example, centers of hunger or thirst can disappear. This forces the patient to live strictly according to the schedule, constantly monitoring himself.
General effects of meningitis in children
Meningitis is a disease that affects a complex structure of an important organ that controls the processes in our body - the brain. Children who underwent it in a mild form and without complications are still tormented by migraines or periodically occurring hormonal disruptions.
Even if there are no expressed consequences of meningitis in children, they should be registered at the dispensary for another two years and regularly be examined by a neurologist, infectious disease specialist and pediatrician. Only if the residual effects of the disease have not been detected, the child is considered recovered.