Wicked teeny tiny bugs that feast on human brain!
Astounding of course, yet remains true! Out of many edible stuff that our environment has gifted us with, there’s a certain population of inhabitants that like partying it up in our brain.
Advertisement
Well to get to our brain, obviously they need to be like a homunculus to make their way through it and make themselves at home up there. Those noxious minute creatures are the micro-organisms, and as the word ‘micro’ implies, those filthy mortals are so small that they’re invisible to naked eye.
They could be anything bacteria, virus or fungi that like to devour the taste of our brain. Their action of eating up our brain or the infection caused is called meningitis, which can be bacterial, viral or fungal meningitis depending on the type of micro-organism that infects the brain with it.
I’ll focus on bacterial meningitis here and the malice that it causes by banqueting in our poor little brain!
Bacteria are one of those petite organisms that can be highly valuable or deadly for us, as there are good and bad bacteria that we’re surrounded with.
However, the bacteria that eat up our brain, to be precise the membrane (meninges) that encases and guards the brain and our spinal cord, can’t be precious but fatal! Apart from meningitis, the same bacteria can cause blood poisoning as well, which doctors refer to as septicaemia. In fact, one could be suffering from bacterial meningitis and septicaemia simultaneously without knowing.
Take a deep gulp of air because I wouldn’t want to bore you to death with those excruciatingly tough scientific names of the bacteria now. It is definitely surprising though, if one would ponder over, how such small organisms invisible to naked eye can cause the damage that they do. In spite of their petite size, they’re much scarier and destructive than a gigantic beast.
As quickly as a severe case of bacterial meningitis strikes a person, by same pace it takes away the person’s soul with it unless immediate effective measures are taken. Hold your breath and don’t palpitate just yet because the good news is that most individuals do recover from this deadly malady! However, when the conditions worsen or aren’t diagnosed on time, an individual might lose hearing and learning abilities or may also become a prey to brain damage.
Yes, that’s definitely a strong enough reason to tremble, but then now is the time to hold on robustly to optimism. The main quavering fact is that toddlers are at a higher risk to bacterial meningitis than other age groups, probably merely because of the fact that their immune system hasn’t developed as much as the older generation.
With this, it’s fair to say that even the elderly are at quite a high risk, as with age, their immune system deteriorates tremendously depending on the lifestyle.
An answer to another of your lingering questions is that bacterial meningitis is transmittable, which says it all, that it can be communicated and spread through saliva or mucus, passed by sneezing, kissing or sharing drinks or utensils. So watch out!! And maintain your distance from any soul you know that has been inflicted by this fatal disease. Bacterial meningitis can disguise itself as a migraine or flu due to similar symptoms and there aren’t going to be even a handful of us out there that’d be able to pull off this veil and recognise the lethality!
Basically, it sort of pretty much depends on your luck too. Reason being that there’re several healthy peeps out there who carry the bacteria that causes meningitis either in their mouth or throat etc. and never fall victim to it unless out of nowhere in some unlucky chaps the bacteria cracks through their immune system and voyage through their blood, mainly due to some kind of head injury or so. At times, these bacteria make their way through sinuses as well.
Before you’re caught by delusions bamboozling you and misinterpret bacterial meningitis for common flu or migraine, it’ll be handy to get the facts straight. For that, one must be well aware of the symptoms (which isn’t a big task), diagnosis and prevention.
The most significant sign can be to watch out for high fever, headache and your lowered strength, rather powerlessness whilst trying to lower your chin to the chest due to firmness and inflexibility near your collar bone, essentially your neck.
In grown-up children and adults, they might experience increasing drowsiness, puzzlement, irritability, attacks etc. in young children/infants, observable symptoms will include their refusal to eat, vomits, high fever, sobbing and crying due to irritability, seizures, as well as swollen heads due to blockage of the fluid around the skull.
Earliest identification of this terrible disease holds so much importance because if it is allowed to advance, you’ll have to face catastrophic repercussions which may lead to blindness, partial paralysis, loss in memory etc. and even death.
Well, yea these tiny little bacteria are some nasty creatures and try to wreck your system as much as they can before treatment which can be with antibiotics. However, there’re quite a few vaccines also available for prevention from this death disease, that are given to travellers and some to infants, so make sure you don’t miss out on any vaccine that should be given to your newly born. There should be a real quick medical attention given to the cases of bacterial meningitis, it’s only the analysis of the spinal fluid that could approve of the disease. Yes, piercing through your spine and sucking a bit of spinal fluid is definitely going to be a painful procedure but it’ll save your life also, because the sooner the doctors receive the confirmation from the test, the sooner they could take measures to prevent further or any damage from the disease.
I firmly trust that health should be the foremost priority because it’s true when they say as long as you’re alive and healthy; you can grab the whole world in your fist and rule away to glory.