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How do you recognize it?

Key symptoms

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Meningitis

Inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord

Symptoms can differ from person to person. At first, it often resembles a severe flu, and symptoms can develop quickly.

Symptoms in adults

With viral meningitis symptoms are often milder:

  • Headache
  • Fever
  • Mild neck stiffness

Bacterial meningitis is often more serious and can cause the following symptoms:

  • Severe headache
  • High fever
  • Stiff neck, where the chin cannot be placed on the chest
  • Drowsiness, confusion, or even loss of consciousness
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Seizures
  • Purple or dark red spots on the skin that do not fade when pressed. This may indicate blood poisoning.
Symptoms in babies and young children

In babies and young children, symptoms are often harder to recognize and may differ from those seen in adults.

  • General symptoms: high fever, irritability, crying, sometimes high pitched or moaning, drowsiness, vomiting, and poor or no drinking
  • Stiff neck: in young children, the neck may be painful or stiff
  • Babies may have nappy pain: they may cry when their legs are lifted during a nappy change
  • Fontanelle: in babies, the fontanelle, the soft spot on the head, may feel bulging and tense
  • Skin spots: just like in adults, red or purple spots may appear on the skin that do not fade when pressed

Encephalitis

Inflammation of the brain

Symptoms can range from mild to very severe and often develop quickly.

The illness usually starts with flu-like symptoms, such as:

  • High fever
  • Headache
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Fatigue and a general feeling of being unwell

In encephalitis, neck stiffness can also occur, especially when the membranes around the brain and spinal cord are involved, known as meningoencephalitis. However, the most characteristic signs are changes in behavior, consciousness, and specific neurological impairments.

Within hours to days, serious neurological symptoms may develop, directly pointing to damage to the brain tissue.

These are the most important distinguishing features of encephalitis:

  • Changes in behavior and personality: confusion, disorientation, irritability, hallucinations, or agitation
  • Neurological symptoms:
    • Problems with speaking, swallowing, or hearing
    • Paralysis on one side of the body
    • Muscle weakness or coordination problems
    • Uncontrolled eye movements
    • Problems with vision
  • Seizures: epileptic seizures or convulsions
  • Reduced consciousness: Muscle spasm of an arm or leg, or excessive movements of the mouth and arms, for example
  • Reduced consciousness extreme sleepiness, stupor or, in the worst case, coma.
  • Memory problems difficulty thinking and remembering, or amnesia.
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Symptoms
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