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Medical Author:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Medical Editor:

David Perlstein, MD, MBA, FAAP

David Perlstein, MD, MBA, FAAP

Dr. Perlstein received his Medical Degree from the University of Cincinnati and then completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at The New York Hospital, Cornell medical Center in New York City. After serving an additional year as Chief Pediatric Resident, he worked as a private practitioner and then was appointed Director of Ambulatory Pediatrics at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.

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Medications

• Antibiotics may be given early in treatment of meningitis to help fight the infection as quickly as possible. The type of antibiotic depends on the child's age and any known allergies. Antibiotics are not helpful for viral meningitis.
• Steroids may be given to help minimize inflammation depending on which organism is suspected to be causing the infection.
• More aggressive medications may be necessary depending on the severity of the child's illness.

Follow-up

If a child is sent home from the emergency department or hospital, a follow-up visit should be arranged with the doctor within 24 hours of the child's release. If the child's condition does not improve or worsens, an immediate return to the emergency department is warranted.

Prevention of Meningitis in Children

Specific vaccines are available to protect and reduce the chances of developing both the bacterial and viral types of meningitis. The antibacterial vaccines include Hib, meningococcal, and pneumococcal and the antiviral vaccines include influenza, varicella, polio, measles, and mumps. The following two tables show the CDC recommended vaccines for infants and children up to age 18 as of 2011 (most recent available) that include those that protect or reduce the chances for certain bacterial and viral meningitis infections and other infections:

For details on the above two tables, pleases see the following link to the CDC site: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/child-schedule.htm

Vaccines against Hib and S. pneumoniae have markedly reduced the number of infected children. Also, if a child has not obtained vaccination against N. meningitidis, in some states they will not be allowed to attend college classes until they prove they are vaccinated.

Antibiotics are given to all intimate contacts of a child with meningococcal meningitis, a very specific type of bacterial meningitis. These intimate contacts may include family members, friends, health care workers, and even day care or nursery contacts. Adults can contract this type of meningitis and become carriers of these bacteria. If adults have been given preventive antibiotics and then become sick or develop any symptoms, they need a full medical evaluation. Preventive antibiotics are not needed for cases of viral meningitis or with other types of bacterial meningitis except for some relatives or caregivers who are caring for patients with Hib infections.