Meningitis

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Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges, which are membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis can be caused by infections from viruses, bacterium, or other microorganisms. Due to the inflammation being in close proximity to the brain and spinal cord, meningitis can be life threatening and is classified as a medical emergency.
The first recorded major outbreak of meningitis occurred in 1805, even though many scientists suggest that Hippocrates was the first to discover the existence of meningitis and there is evidence that suggests that the disease was also studied by pre-Renaissance physicians. Sir Rober Whytt is attributed with the description of tuberculosis meningitis in a report in 1768. Meningitis outbreaks were subsequently described in Europe, America and Africa by 1840. The epidemic became very common in Africa, starting with a major epidemic in Nigeria and Ghana in 1905. Today, Sub-Saharan Africa is known as the meningitis belt because it has been heavily plagued by large epidemics of the disease throughout the century.
Bacterial meningitis occurs when...

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