Library / English Dictionary

MENINGITIS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("meningitis" is a kind of...):

infectious disease (a disease transmitted only by a specific kind of contact)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "meningitis"):

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

In leukemic meningitis, cancer cells have spread from the original (primary) tumor to the meninges (thin layers of tissue that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord).

(Leukemic meningitis, NCI Dictionary)

It has been proposed especially for the meningitides because it passes the blood-brain barrier and for anaerobic infections.

(Moxalactam, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The then investigated the long-term effects of this infection, after the virus was cleared and the meningitis had subsided.

(Meningitis changes immune cell makeup in the mouse brain lining, National Institutes of Health)

Also called carcinomatous meningitis, leptomeningeal carcinoma, leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, meningeal carcinomatosis, meningeal metastasis, and neoplastic meningitis.

(Leptomeningeal metastasis, NCI Dictionary)

Representative examples include streptococcal infection, E.coli infection, and bacterial meningitis.

(Neonatal Infectious Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)

Also called leukemic meningitis and meningeal leukemia.

(Leukemic leptomeningitis, NCI Dictionary)

Also called carcinomatous meningitis, leptomeningeal carcinoma, leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, leptomeningeal metastasis, meningeal metastasis, and neoplastic meningitis.

(Meningeal carcinomatosis, NCI Dictionary)

Also called leukemic leptomeningitis and leukemic meningitis.

(Meningeal leukemia, NCI Dictionary)

Meningitis is usually caused by a bacterial or viral infection, but sometimes is caused by cancer, drug allergies, or inflammatory diseases.

(Meningitis, NCI Dictionary)

N. meningitidis, known commonly as meningococcus, is the causative agent of cerebrospinal meningitis, but is also associated with other human infections, but can be commensal in the oropharynx and nasopharynx of carriers.

(Neisseria meningitidis, NCI Thesaurus)