How contagious is Viral Meningitis?!
Question: My mother in law is hospitailzed right now for Viral Meningitis and my husband goes to see her everyday. Our son is 18 months old and I am paranoid he is going to get it just from the germs my husband brings home from the hospital. Is this possible?
Answers: My mother in law is hospitailzed right now for Viral Meningitis and my husband goes to see her everyday. Our son is 18 months old and I am paranoid he is going to get it just from the germs my husband brings home from the hospital. Is this possible?
Okay. It depends.
Let's talk about meningitis first. There are 2 causes of meningits - viruses and bacteria. Bacterial meningitis tends to be much more dangerous. Viral meningitis is referred to as aseptic meningitis and tends to be more mild. Viral meningitis usually takes 3-7 days to incubate in a person after exposure. At that point they become contagious. They usually stop being contagious after 10 days.
Most meningitis is spread through saliva and mucus from the nose. It can also be spread in stool sometimes, but that isn't applicable here.
So as long as your husband isn't coming into contact with her secretions, he shouldn't be bringing it home to you and your child. You can get it off of someone's hand if they have touched the infected fluids and then touch your face, but the ability to travel home from the hospital on your husbands hands is stretching things.
I think you and your child should be okay. Just make sure that when he leaves her room he washes his hands thoroughly - 30 seconds minimum. Wet hands, soap up, then start the count. Front, back, between the fingers, up the wrist, under the nails.
That's the best way of preventing the spread of viruses.
Hope that helps.
How is the virus spread?
Enteroviruses, the most common cause of viral meningitis, are most often spread through direct contact with respiratory secretions (e.g., saliva, sputum, or nasal mucus) of an infected person. This usually happens by shaking hands with an infected person or touching something they have handled, and then rubbing your own nose or mouth. The virus can also be found in the stool of persons who are infected. The virus is spread through this route mainly among small children who are not yet toilet trained. It can also be spread this way to adults changing the diapers of an infected infant. The incubation period for enteroviruses is usually between 3 and 7 days from the time you are infected until you develop symptoms. You can usually spread the virus to someone else beginning about 3 days after you are infected until about 10 days after you develop symptoms.
-http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/ente...