Mexico, .- The meningitis is a disease that can kill in less than 24 hours to the sufferer explained to Efe Dr. Lucia Bricks, medical director for Whooping Cough, Polio, Haemophilus Influenzae type B (HIB) and Meningitis in Sanofi Pasteur Latin America .
On the eve of the World Day of the disease that is commemorated on April 24, the specialist noted that it is an “inflammation in the membranes that line the central nervous system and the brain called meninges.”
This is due to an infection that can be contracted by viruses or bacteria, most of the cases are due to meningococcus, whose scientific name is Neisseria Meningitidis.
The doctor explained that meningitis has symptoms such as high fever that can manifest with seizures, sensitivity to light, headache, vomiting, nausea, confusion, stiff neck and purple spots on the skin that, if not treated in time, derive in death.
He ruled out that it is a condition that only affects minors, because it can also occur in adolescents, adults and seniors.
Within the population at risk are the military, smokers, large groups of people and people with deficiencies in the immune system.
For his part, Dr. Jorge Baruch DÃaz RamÃrez, director of the Clinic of Preventive Care of the Traveler of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), indicated that 33% of patients have sequelae such as brain damage, deafness and learning disability.
Another of the sequels is also the loss of some limb of the body by amputation.
The transmission of this disease can be through contact with the carrier’s saliva when speaking, coughing, sneezing, yawning, kissing or having contact with articles of personal use.
The doctor said that in the world the most affected areas with this condition are in Africa.
He stressed that at present the disease is preventable up to 100% thanks to the vaccine against meningococcus, which although it is not within the national scheme of vaccination in the country, can be purchased in private services.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every year there are 500,000 cases of meningitis around the world, causing the death of 50,000 people. (EFE)
