The symptoms can develop over several hours or several days. Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, discomfort looking into bright lights, confusion and sleepiness. In newborns and small infants, the classic symptoms may be hard to detect and the child may only appear slow or inactive, irritable, have vomiting, or be feeding poorly. Those individuals who experience these symptoms should seek prompt medical attention. Meningitis is an infection of the fluid of a person's spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain.
People sometimes refer to it as spinal meningitis.
The transmission of bacterial meningitis requires close, personal contact with an infected individual over an extended period of time, as would be expected in family members or intimate contacts. People who have had close, personal contact with someone infected with bacterial meningitis are often treated with antibiotics. The family members and close contacts of the five confirmed cases in Putnam County have been treated with medication to prevent illness. Health officials expect to see sporadic cases of bacterial meningitis each year in Florida. When the number of cases is clustered in a community during a short time frame, precautions must be taken to prevent more cases.