Master Common Causes of Meningitis: Adolescent and Adult (6 - 60 Years Old) with Picmonic for Medicine

Primary Herpes simplex virus (HSV) has been increasingly recognized as a cause of viral meningitis in adults. Viral meningitis in immunocompetent adults is generally caused by HSV-2. Genital lesions are present in approximately 85 percent of patients with primary HSV-2 meningitis, and these generally precede the onset of CNS symptoms by seven days.

Meningitis due to N. meningitidis tends to strike young, previously well individuals and can progress over a matter of hours to death. The organism is considered a respiratory pathogen and spread is most likely by the aerosol route. It seen more often in less well-developed countries.

S. pneumoniae is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in adults in the USA. This bacterial meningitis presents with the classic triad of fever, nuchal rigidity, and a change in mental status.