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Meningitis aséptica - Overview

Nombres alternativos

Meningitis estéril

Definición:

Es una enfermedad que se parece a la meningitis bacteriana; sin embargo, las bacterias no proliferan en los cultivos del líquido alrededor del cerebro y la médula espinal (líquido cefalorraquídeo). Esto puede ocurrir debido a que no hay ninguna bacteria o debido a que las bacterias son difíciles de cultivar.

Ver también:

Causas, incidencia y factores de riesgo:

Hay muchas causas de meningitis aséptica como:

  • Cáncer (causan un síndrome similar a la meningitis)
  • Infecciones cercanas al cerebro o a la médula espinal, como los abscesos epidurales
  • Hongos
  • Medicamentos (causan un síndrome similar a la meningitis)
  • Micobacterias (no tuberculosas)
  • Sífilis
  • Enfermedades transmitidas por garrapatas (como la enfermedad de Lyme)
  • Tuberculosis
  • Virus

Alrededor de la mitad de los casos de meningitis aséptica son causados por el virus de Coxsackie o el ecovirus, dos miembros de la familia enterovirus. La frecuencia de estas infecciones enterovirales aumenta en el verano y a principios del otoño. Los enterovirus se propagan por medio del contacto mano a boca y por la tos. También se pueden propagar por medio de la materia fecal.

Otros virus que causan esta afección abarcan:

Dentro de los factores de riesgo para el desarrollo de meningitis aséptica están:

  • Ser un trabajador de la salud
  • Tener un sistema inmunitario debilitado
  • Exposición a niños en ambientes de guarderías
  • Exposición a alguien con una infección viral reciente
  • Reviewed last on: 9/15/2010
  • David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

Referencias

Swartz MN. Meningitis: bacterial, viral, and other. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsever; 2007:chap 437.

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