Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aysha Anwar, M.B.B.S[2]
Overview
Primary prevention
Primary preventive measures to prevent bacterial meningitis include the following
Vaccination
There are three types of vaccination available for prevention of bacterial meningitis from three bacterial agents. These include:
| Vaccinations
|
| Type of Vaccination
|
Recommendations
|
|---|
| Pneumococcal
|
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine
- Children under 2 years of age
- Older people >65 years of age
- Individuals 2 to 65 years of with medical conditions such as patients with CKD, cochlear implants, asplenia
Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine
- All adults 65 years or older
- People 2 to 65 years with certain medical conditions such as diabetes and chronic heart, lung or liver disease
- Adults 19 to 64 years who smoke cigarettes
|
| Meningococcal
|
- Children and adolescents age 11 through 18
- Military recruits
- College students living in dorms
- Splenectomy or splenic damage
- Person having complement deficiency
- People travelling to endemic areas such as Africa
|
| Hemophilus influenza type b (Hib)
|
- All children younger than 5 years of age
|
Other preventive measures
| Other preventive measures
|
| Preventive strategy
|
Recommendations
|
|---|
| Avoidance of risk factors
|
|
| Droplet precaution
|
- People exposed to patients within three to six feet of the patient should wear surgical mask
- Doors of the room where patient resides should be kept open
|
| Chemoprophylaxis
|
- Chemopropylaxis required for suspected or confirmed cases of meningococcal infection
- All household members
- Roomates or intimate contacts
- Child care workers
- People directly exposed to patient's respiratory or oral secretions
- Airline travelers seated close to affected person > 8 hours
|
References
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