Meningitis is such a serious disease that without treatment it is almost 90% fatal, especially in the case of bacterial inflammation of the lining of the brain. Treatment of meningitis should be carried out only in a hospital setting, folk remedies can only be used as an adjunct that helps to better tolerate this condition, and they should be used only by agreement with the attending physician.
What is the treatment based on? Without the results of the
analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (cerebrospinal fluid) obtained by
lumbar puncture, it is impossible to treat meningitis. Only this analysis can help the doctor distinguish
purulent meningitis from serous, since according to the clinical manifestations, that is, the symptoms, this may not always be clear (accordingly, the treatment of meningitis will be incorrect). In addition, some diseases occur with increased intracranial pressure and high fever, and also have positive
meningeal symptoms, therefore
, this procedure is necessary for an accurate diagnosis.
During a puncture, several milliliters of cerebrospinal fluid are taken for examination. One of them is sent for a clinical laboratory study, the results of which give a conclusion on how severe the inflammation is and what kind of serous or purulent it is. Another small amount of cerebrospinal fluid is sent for virus and bacteriological studies, the result of which will come a little later and will help the doctor to adjust the initially prescribed treatment for meningitis.
Let's try to figure out which drugs treat meningitis. Therapy of serous meningitis is based on the use of non-specific antiviral agents: these are mainly interferon preparations (Laferon, Viferon, Lipoferon). Their use is based on the fact that when any virus enters our body, the immune system responds by producing a similar substance that helps to cope with this infection. In addition, it is desirable to conduct a PCR study of cerebrospinal fluid on the DNA of herpes simplex viruses, chickenpox virus, Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus. It is these viruses that cause the most severe and disabling meningitis, but fortunately there is a special treatment against them: Acyclovir, Ganciclovir, Valaciclovir, plus specific immunoglobulin. Sometimes, in the case of a serious condition, with serous meningitis, treatment with the intravenous “Acyclovir” is started until the PCR results are obtained on the DNA of the herpes viruses.
The treatment of meningitis in the case of its tuberculous etiology consists in the introduction of several anti-tuberculosis antibiotics (for example, Streptomycin) in higher doses than with tuberculosis of a different localization.
If serous meningitis is caused by HIV or AIDS-associated flora (it also has a serous character), treatment is carried out in specialized hospitals with specific drugs.
If the patient has purulent meningitis, the treatment consists in the introduction of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Only those that can penetrate the barrier from the cells surrounding the brain (the blood-brain barrier) can be used. Such drugs are only administered parenterally (i.e., intravenously or intramuscularly, but not in pill form) and only at the maximum dosage.
The first antibiotic is selected based on what is the relationship between impaired consciousness and the level of inflammation in the cerebrospinal fluid, age and associated pathology. So, if inflammation is expressed in thousands of cells, and a person is conscious, this disease was not a complication of pneumonia, otitis media, sinusitis, or other ENT diseases, then Ceftriaxone and Amikacin can become the first antibiotics in appropriate dosages. More often, the disease requires more expensive drugs: Meronema, Vancomycin.
The second antibiotic, if necessary, is selected according to the results of seeding cerebrospinal fluid on the microflora and the sensitivity of the pathogen to antibiotics. The extent to which meningitis symptoms are expressed is not determined by treatment: therapy is selected solely according to the results of cerebrospinal fluid examination.