LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Meningitis: Children
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Meningitis and septicaemia affect about 3,000 people every year in the UK and Republic of Ireland. This works out at just over 8 every day, but there are more cases in winter than in summer. Anyone can get the diseases, but babies, children and young adults are most at risk.
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In the 19th century, meningitis was a scourge of the Japanese imperial family, playing the largest role in the horrendous pre-maturity mortality rate the family endured. In the mid-1800s, only the Emperor Kōmei and two of his siblings reached maturity out of fifteen total children surviving birth. Kōmei's son, the Emperor Meiji, was one of two survivors out of Kōmei's six children, including an elder brother of Meiji who would have taken the throne had he lived to maturity. Five of Meiji's 15 children survived, including only his third son, Emperor Taishō, who was feeble-minded, perhaps as a result of having contracted meningitis himself. By Emperor Hirohito's generation the family was receiving modern medical attention. As the focal point of tradition in Japan, during the Tokugawa Shogunate the family was denied modern "Dutch" medical treatment then in use among the upper caste; despite extensive modernization during the Meiji Restoration the Emperor insisted on traditional medical care for his children.
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Viral meningitis is caused by any of a number of different viruses, many of which are associated with other diseases. About half of the cases in the United States are caused by common intestinal viruses. Occasionally, children with mumps or herpes virus infection develop viral meningitis. Mosquito-borne viruses ... cause some cases each year. In many cases, a specific virus cannot be identified.
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Enteroviruses, the most common cause of viral meningitis, are most often spread through direct contact with respiratory secretions (e.g., saliva, sputum, or nasal mucus) of an infected person. This usually happens by shaking hands with an infected person or touching something they have handled, and then rubbing your own nose or mouth. The virus can ... be found in the stool of persons who are infected. The virus is spread through this route mainly among small children who are not yet toilet trained. It can also be spread this way to adults changing the diapers of an infected infant. The incubation period for enteroviruses is usually between 3 and 7 days from the time you are infected until you develop symptoms.
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Until recently it was difficult to identify which virus was causing viral meningitis, and, once bacteria were ruled out, further tests were not commonly done. However, because of the concern in recent years about West Nile Virus (which can ... cause meningitis); more tests using the polymerase chain reaction technique have been performed to identify the viruses. The Epstein-Barr virus has also been found in the CSF of patients with meningitis (Volpi A 2004). The viruses that cause measles, mumps, and chickenpox can also cause meningitis. Vaccines against these diseases may be partly responsible for the decrease in viral meningitis in children (Beghi E et al 1984).
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A person may have meningitis more than one time, although this is rare. There are vaccines for some types of meningitis. Someone showing any symptoms of meningitis should immediately see a doctor who can determine the type of meningitis present and begin treatment. Even with viral meningitis, severe problems can result from dehydration, especially in children and babies.
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