Updated: July 2, 2025
What is Meningitis?
Meningitis is inflammation of the tissue that covers the spinal cord and brain. It is typically due to an infection of the lining and fluid around the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis usually makes someone very sick and requires hospitalization.
There are several types of germs that can cause meningitis, including bacteria and viruses and other less common ones such as fungi, parasites, or amoebae.
Some of the leading causes of bacterial meningitis in the United States include Streptococcus pneumoniae, Group B Streptococcus, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, Escherichia coli, and Listeria monocytogenes. Tuberculosis is a rare bacterial cause of meningitis.
Meningitis can affect someone at any age. Children younger than 5 years are at greatest risk, followed by teenagers of high school age. Older adults or those with weak immune systems are also at risk. Meningitis is an uncommon medical problem thanks to vaccines that protect against the most common and severe causes.
What are the symptoms?
The most common symptoms include a high fever, headache, and a stiff neck. Other symptoms might be nausea, vomiting, eyes being overly sensitive to light, confusion, and being abnormally sleepy. Babies may be more irritable and more difficult to console or calm down, be less active, or feed less than usual.
Someone with symptoms of meningitis should go to an emergency room for rapid diagnosis and treatment. Bacterial meningitis is a medical emergency. It is important to diagnose and treat the infection with antibiotics quickly to prevent serious complications, including disability and death.
How is Meningitis treated?
The treatment for meningitis depends on the germ causing it. Bacterial meningitis is treated with antibiotics. For viral meningitis, most treatment is supportive care, though some specific viral causes may be treated with antiviral medication. People with meningitis are often treated in the intensive care unit of a hospital.
How do people catch this disease?
Most bacteria that cause meningitis are spread through close contact with an infected person. Rarely, someone can get infected from contaminated food. People with prolonged, direct exposure or who are household contacts to an infected person are at the highest risk of exposure for many of the causes.
Bacteria that cause meningitis are often spread via coughing or sneezing, sharing saliva such as via a shared drink or utensil, eating food contaminated by feces due to poor hygiene, or at birth from the mother to the baby.
Viral meningitis is commonly spread via sneezing or coughing, sharing saliva, fluid from blisters, animal exposures, or contact with items contaminated with body secretions.
What can be done to prevent meningitis?
Prevention methods can vary depending on the germ causing the infection, but overall risk of infection can be decreased by routinely using healthy habits such as frequent handwashing, avoiding close contact with sick people, and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces.
Vaccines are available to prevent four types of bacterial meningitis. DPH continues to recommend routine vaccination of infants and children to prevent these infections. People should speak with their health care provider to evaluate risks and benefits of vaccination.
Meningitis and other meningococcal infections due to Neisseria meningitidis can be prevented with two meningococcal vaccines: the meningococcal conjugate (MCV4) vaccine, which protects against four strains of the bacteria (ACWY), and the serogroup B meningococcal vaccine. The ACWY vaccine is recommended for all adolescents, and parents should talk to their child’s doctor to see if the meningococcal B vaccine is right for them.
Pneumococcal vaccines can help prevent meningitis and other pneumococcal infections due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. The Hib vaccine prevents infections from Haemophilus influenzae serotype b. These vaccines are recommended for all infants.
Pregnant women should be screened for group B Streptococcus and if positive, receive antibiotics during labor to prevent passing the bacteria to their baby.
For those at risk due to a known exposure to someone with N. meningitidis, antibiotics can be administered to prevent infection and possibly meningitis.
Is the public at risk?
Many of these bacteria are commonly around us, but there are ways to prevent infection by routine handwashing, covering coughs and sneezes, cooking food properly, and staying up to date on vaccinations. There currently is no increased risk to the public from these bacteria.
However, if you believe you may have been exposed to someone with bacterial meningitis, contact your health care provider to determine if you need antibiotics. DPH investigates all reportable cases of meningitis caused by N. meningitidis, H. influenzae, and S. pnuemoniae. DPH performs contact tracing to identify close contacts and notify them with any recommendations for prevention.
Some travelers may have increased risk for infection from N. meningitidis if traveling for Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage to Saudia Arabia or to sub-Saharan Africa during the dry season. Speak to your doctor to get vaccinated before traveling in these specific situations.