Symptoms, Spreading, Course
Symptoms progress depending on how long the disease has existed in the body:
Early stage symptoms:
-Fever
-Headache
-Stiff Neck (very painful and difficult to move)
-Vomiting
-Purple, blotchy rash on skin
-Drowsiness
-The course of meningococcal meningitis is rapid. Adults can become seriously ill or die within 24 hours, and this can occur even more quickly in children.
-Cold-like symptoms progress to increased drowsiness and fever, which leads to coma, and eventually death.
-The bloodstream and organs are affected.
-Tissues die, causing bleeding underneath the skin.
-The brain swells, and seizures can occur.
-The later the stage of the disease, the greater the possibility for complications.
-The bacteria that causes meningococcal meningitis is spread through contact with the throat or nose discharge of others (such as mucous).
CONNECTION BETWEEN SYMPTOMS AND DEFENSE:
-Stiff Neck: Result of swelling in the tissue surrounding the spinal cord.
-Fever: Common response to inflammation. Chemical mediators release substances that raise the core body temperature.
-Headaches: Swelling of the subarachnoid tissue surrounding the brain.
-Bacteria multiplies in the blood vessels, releasing toxins. These toxins damage the vessels, and cause blood to leak out under the skin, causing purple, blotchy spots.
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