BACTERIAL MENINGITIS

The incidence of bacterial meningitis is relatively low in developed nations such as the United States; however, developing nations such as Africa are victims of inadequate preventive health care, compromised living conditions and insufficient treatment availability that act synergistically to create one of the most prominent global populations where the disease can be found.

II. PATHOLOGY
Bacterial meningitis attacks an individual's spinal cord by way of infection (Centers for Disease Control, 2003; Papasian et al, 1997). Clinical signs include headache, stiff neck, high fever, nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, confusion and sluggishness that last anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days, ultimately leading to seizures (Centers for Disease Control, 2003; Herf et al, 1998; Chiocca, 1997).
The African population is not privy to the benefits of early diagnosis, inasmuch as the preventive nature of health care in developing countries is wholly inadequate (Berkley et al, 2001), thereby making treatment efforts a moot point until ...