Meningitis is a severe health issue where swelling occurs in the tissue around the brain and spinal cord. Most often, people with meningitis have a rare infection from bacteria or a virus.
Symptoms include a fever, headache, and stiff neck, and people often report that light hurts their eyes.
How we treat meningitis depends on what infection causes it.
If you think you have meningitis, it's crucial to seek care right away at the closest emergency department.
On this page:
Our team of experts is specially trained to prevent and treat infectious diseases like meningitis.
Through research and clinical trials, we're learning more so we can advance better treatment and prevention methods.
Doctors define meningitis as swelling of the membranes that protect the brain and spinal cord. Swelling occurs when the immune system tries to fight an infection.
Meningitis is a dangerous, even deadly, disease that requires emergency treatment.
The most common cause of meningitis is an infection from either a virus or bacteria.
The two most common types of meningitis are viral and bacterial.
Of these two, viral meningitis is more common but less dangerous. Bacterial meningitis is less common since we have vaccines that can decrease the risk of infection.
This includes vaccines for:
People who are pregnant or immunocompromised may be at risk for some rare causes of meningitis.
Other types of meningitis — fungal, parasitic, and amebic — are very rare. Less than 200 cases from an amoeba — a single-celled creature — have occurred in the U.S. in the past 60 years.
Infections from a group of viruses called enteroviruses cause most viral meningitis cases. About 75,000 cases of meningitis from enterovirus infections occur in the U.S. each year.
Other viruses that can cause meningitis include:
Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis. It can also cause respiratory tract infections.
Other forms of bacteria that cause meningitis include:
Babies have the highest risk of getting bacterial meningitis.
But it can affect people of any age, especially those who:
People under age five have a higher risk of viral meningitis, but all people are at risk if they:
Those with bacterial meningitis must receive treatment right away to avoid severe complications, such as:
People with viral meningitis often get better on their own after about a week.
You can prevent both bacterial and viral meningitis by receiving vaccines.
The CDC suggests that:
See all of the CDC's meningitis vaccine guidelines.
If you've been in close contact with someone with meningitis, you may need antibiotics to reduce your risk of infection.
If you think you or someone you know has meningitis, seek care right away. If a person with bacterial meningitis doesn't get treatment, they can die.
Symptoms of bacterial and viral meningitis include a sudden fever, headache, sensitivity to light, and a stiff neck without a cause.
You might also vomit and have mental confusion.
In babies, meningitis symptoms include:
If your doctor thinks you have bacterial meningitis, they'll collect blood or fluid near the spinal cord for testing.
Doctors also diagnose viral meningitis with lab tests. These tests might include taking samples from your nose or throat or of blood, spinal fluid, or stool.
We treat bacterial meningitis with antibiotics. Treatment must start right away to prevent severe issues or death.
For viral meningitis, treatment is often rest and fluids. A few causes of viral meningitis — like herpes simplex virus or influenza — have their own specific treatments.
Most people with viral meningitis get better on their own and don't have long-term health problems.
Bacterial meningitis is much more dire. About one in five people with bacterial meningitis have severe complications, and one in six die.
