What causes menangitis?

There are two major types of meningitis; meningococcal and pneumococcal.

There are many things that can cause this. A drug allergy, some types of cancer or an inflammatory diseases. Bacteria can be also be a cause of meningitis; it's a bacteria that lives in the back of the nose and throat, or in the upper respiratory tract. It could also be caused by a viral infection, or even a fungal infection.

The bacteria are spread around by coughing, sneezing and kissing. However the same bacteria can't survive outside the body for long, so they cannot be picked up from water supplies, swimming pools, or air ventilation systems.

Scarily enough, there are people out there that are actually carrying the bacteria for days, weeks, or months without showing any symptoms. It rare, but it does happen, the bacteria can overcome the body's defenses and invade the cerebra spinal fluid, causing meningitis.

Meningococcal meningitis has a 75% rate when it comes to death, where as pneumococcal meningitis only has a 20% rate, but it can lead to pneumonia, brain damage and several other things.

Hope I helped, stay safe.

Sarah

Viruses and bacteria that spread to or directly infect the central nervous system cause most cases of infectious meningitis.

About 90% of cases of viral meningitis are caused by one of the enteroviruses (e.g. coxsackievirus, echovirus, poliovirus). Mumps, herpesvirus, and arboviruses (transmitted by insect bites) also may cause viral meningitis.

Common causes of bacterial meningitis include Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitides, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Prior to the 1990s, Haemophilus influenzae type b was the primary cause, but widespread vaccination (Hib vaccine) has greatly reduced the incidence of this infection.

Candida albicans, Crytococcus neoformans, and Histoplasma are often involved in cases of fungal meningitis.
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Causes of noninfectious meningitis include the following:

Carcinomatosis (widespread metastatic cancer)

Contaminated water (may contain parasites)

Head injury, birth defect of the skull, brain surgery (may result in infection of the meninges or cerebrospinal fluid)

Medications such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (e.g. ibuprofen, naproxen) and antibiotics (e.g. Bactrim)