Meningitis

What Increases Your Risk

Factors that may increase the risk for meningitis include:

• Genetics. Some people may inherit the tendency to get meningitis. If they come in contact with organisms that can cause the infection, they may be likely to get infected.
• Being male. Males get meningitis more often than females.
• Age. In general, babies, young children, young adults, and older adults are at highest risk of getting meningitis.
• Crowded living conditions. People in camps, schools, and college dormitories are more likely than others to get meningitis caused by organisms that can spread easily from one person to another. For example:
  • College freshmen. Freshmen who live in dormitories have a slightly greater chance of getting meningitis compared with other people their age. However, the risk in college students overall is as low as in people their age who are not going to college.
  • Children attending day care centers. Children who attend day care centers are more likely than other children to get meningitis caused by organisms that are easily spread through stool or contaminated hands or water.
• Exposure to insects and rodents. People who live in or visit areas of the world where insects or rodents carry organisms that cause meningitis risk getting the disease.
• Not getting the mumps (MMR), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and pneumococcal conjugate (PCV) immunizations before age 2.
• Being an older adult who has not gotten the pneumococcal polysaccharide (PPV) immunization and/or does not have a working spleen, which is part of the body's immune system .
• Travel to areas where meningitis is common. For example, people traveling to the "meningitis belt" in sub-Saharan Africa should receive the meningococcal vaccine.

Medical conditions that increase the risk of meningitis include:

• Poor overall health. People who are in poor health or have other medical conditions may be more likely to get meningitis because their bodies' natural defenses may be weak. For example, children who have sickle cell disease or cancer are at higher risk than other children.
• Having a birth defect of the skull, a head injury, or brain surgery.
• Undergoing treatment with a kidney dialysis machine.
• Having other infections, such as upper respiratory infections, mumps, tuberculosis (TB), syphilis, Lyme disease, and illnesses caused by herpes viruses.
• Having a cochlear implant for severe hearing loss. A recent study indicates that children with cochlear implants have an increased risk for bacterial meningitis.⁵
• Being born to a mother infected with an organism that causes meningitis. Viruses such as the enteroviruses and herpes viruses, and some bacteria can be passed from an infected mother to a baby during birth.
• Having had meningitis in the past. Some people who have had meningitis are more likely than others to get it again. These include people with birth defects or injuries to their skull and face, impaired immune systems, or unexpected reactions to some medicines.

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Author:	Debby Golonka, MPH	Last Updated: January 19, 2007
Medical Review:	Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics W. David Colby IV, MSc, MD, FRCPC - Infectious Disease
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