Medical history (history of illness) represents an important component in the diagnosis of viral meningitis (viral meningitis).
Family history [usually foreign history].
- What is the general health status of your relatives?
- Are there any ambient cases of viral diseases (enteroviruses, lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM), mumps, polio, varicella-zoster virus (VZV)).
Social history [usually foreign history].
- What is your profession?
- Have you been abroad recently? If yes, where exactly? (Worldwide: Dengue virus, Rabies; Italy: Tuscany virus, Eastern Mediterranean area: West Nile virus; Southeast Asia: Japanese encephalitis (JE), Nipah virus infections, Central and West Africa: Lassa virus, North and Central America: West Nile virus, various alpha virus encephalitides).
- Have you had contact with sick people? (Meningitis in the environment?)
Vegetative anamnesis incl. nutritional anamnesis [usually foreign anamnesis].
- Did you have
- Tick bites? (TBE)
- Insect bites? (other arbovirus diseases)
- Animal bites? (Rabies)
- Do you have any of the following complaints, among others?
- Headache
- Fever
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- How long have these symptoms been present?
- Do you have any neurological complaints, such as painful neck stiffness* , photophobia, noise aversion, etc.?
- Do you have any other complaints (muscle pain, abdominal pain, diarrhea, etc.)?
- Have you recently had contact with people suffering from infectious diseases?
Self-history incl. medication history [usually external history].
- Pre-existing conditions (neurological diseases, ENT diseases, infections (cold, earache); HIV/AIDS, condition after head trauma / head injury?)
- Operations (organ transplantation (HIV, CMV, parvovirus B19))
- Vaccination status (Haemophilus influenzae).
- Allergies
Medication history
- Treatment with blood or blood products (HIV, CMV, parvovirus B19).
- Immunosuppression, therapeutic or disease ? (CMV, EBV, HSV 1 and 2, JCV [John Cunningham virus], HHV 6 [human herpesvirus 6], VZV).
* If this question has been answered with “Yes”, an immediate visit to the doctor is required! (Information without guarantee)
