meningitis

/ˈmɛnənˌdʒaɪdɪs/

/mɛnɪnˈdʒaɪtɪs/

Other forms: meningitises

Meningitis is an illness that causes the area around the brain and spinal cord to become inflamed. The symptoms of meningitis include fever and headache, along with neck stiffness.

Meningitis is often serious because of how close the inflammation is to a patient's brain. The most common type of meningitis is caused by a virus, and others are caused by bacteria — several types can be prevented with immunizations. The word meningitis means "inflammation of the meninges," or the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, from a Greek root meaning "membrane."

Definitions of meningitis

1. noun

   infectious disease characterized by inflammation of the meninges (the tissues that surround the brain or spinal cord) usually caused by a bacterial infection; symptoms include headache and stiff neck and fever and nausea
   types:

   choriomeningitis

   a cerebral meningitis with cellular infiltration of the meninges

   brain fever, cerebrospinal fever, cerebrospinal meningitis, epidemic meningitis

   meningitis caused by bacteria and often fatal

   cerebromeningitis, encephalomeningitis, meningoencephalitis

   inflammation of the brain and spinal cord and their meninges

   leptomeningitis

   inflammation of the leptomeninges

   lymphocytic choriomeningitis

   a form of viral meningitis caused by a virus carried by the common house mouse

   type of:

   infectious disease

   a disease transmitted only by a specific kind of contact