Meningitis

(men-in-ji’ ’-tis) [juijviy!;, membrane; ltiq, inflammation]. Inflammation of the membranes of the brain or cord; that of the dura is termed pachymeningitis, that of the pia-arachnoid, lep to meningitis, or simply meningitis. Meningitis of the membranes of the brain is cla ified into acute and chronic, the former being subdivided into serous and purulent, the latter into fibrous, o ifying, and deep, or encephalomeningitis. According to location, two varieties are spoken of — that of the vertex and that of the base. M., Acute Cerebral, is due to traumatism, to extension of inflammation from adjacent structures, especially from the middle ear, the orbit, the nasal sinuses, or to tuberculosis (Tuberculous M.); it may be secondary to acute infectious proce es elsewhere in the body, as pneumonia, erysipelas, typhoid fever, influenza, small-pox, or it may be a primary disease, as in Cerebrospinal M. The symptoms are fever, slow pulse, later rapid pulse, headache, delirium, rigidity and retraction of the neck, convulsions, vomiting, a scaphoid abdomen, constipation, optic neuritis; in advanced stages various palsies, such as ptosis, squint, facial paralysis. In epidemic cerebrospinal M. there is usually a characteristic eruption. See. Exanthemata, Table of. M., Acute Spinal, may occur in tuberculosis, as a secondary proce in acute infectious diseases, such as small-pox, scarlet-fever, pneumonia, as a part of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, as the result of extension of inflammation from neighboring parts, and as the result of exposure to cold and wet. The symptoms are chill, fever, pain in the back and limbs, rigidity of the muscles, dyspnea, exaggerated reflexes, later paralyses. M., Chronic Cerebral, is due to syphilis, tuberculosis, or may be a ociated with disease of the brain in encephalomeningitis (paretic dementia). The main symptoms are, in the first two, headache, convulsions, and rigidity of the muscles of the neck. M., Chronic Spinal, is due to syphilis, traumatism, and the exce ive use of alcohol. It is also frequently an accompaniment of the scleroses of the spinal cord. The symptoms are pain, hyperesthesia along the spinal nerves, increased reflexes, paralyses. 387