Difference Between Brain Inflammation and Meningitis
Even if the names are the same, brain inflammation (encephalitis) and meningitis (meningitis) are two different diseases with different severity and different disease progression. Brain Inflammation is common and milder than most people think, while the dangerous epidemi of meningitis – which previously affected children and young people are almost extinct in many countries. Effective vaccines may have contributed to this.
– The difference between encephalitis and meningitis is, as the name says, the first disease affects the brain, the other attacks the meninges. The first is usually caused by viruses and are much less dangerous than the other caused by bacteria.
Do the disease have different signs?
– Most symptoms are common, but they are more serious and usually develop faster in meningitis. In both cases, one can get fever and headache, thereof photophobia , impaired consciousness, rashness and convulsions. An important difference is that people with meningitis have neck stiffness because the meninges are inflamed and tight. Neck Stiffness is not typical in brain inflammation.
Three bacteria
In case of the meningitis, there are three bacteria that have dominated: meningococci, hemophilus and pneumococci.
– How dangerous is meningitis?
– Meningitis caused by bacteria is always dangerous. In pneumococcal infection, the chances of survival remain at 20 – 25 percent, even though patients are treated with antibiotics. Many will in fact spread to the brain in the form of abscesses and the person infected gradually dies.