This fact sheet is intended to answer questions members of the community have asked about middle ear infections and about meningitis, infections that have hospitalized a member of our faculty, Patricia Anderson. Professor Anderson is in the Intensive Care unit in serious condition but we hope that she will make a full recovery. Middle ear infections are common bacterial infections in both children and adults.
Many cases are self limited and some cases are due to bacteria that require antibiotic treatment.
Meningitis is a disease that causes inflammation of the meninges, which are the lining or membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord and often requires treatment with antibiotics. There are also different strains of both viral and bacterial meningitis and each of these strains is different, are spread in different ways and lead to slightly different illnesses. All of these types of bacterial meningitis require antibiotic treatment. These infections are caused when Streptococcus pneumoniae that often resides in the throat spreads to the middle ear, sinuses or lungs. On rare occasions, they can invade the meninges, leading to meningitis.