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meningitis

Term: meningitis
Literally meaning: “inflammation of meninges”
Origin: Anc Greek
μήνιγξ/meninx(=meninx, one of the three membranes enveloping the  brain and spinal  cord. 
+-ίτις/-tis(=suffix which is used with the feminine noun η νόσος/ nosos/=disease, denoting “inflammation of”).
According Greek Monk and medical philosopher Meletios(7th-8th cen) in his work  «Περί της του ανθρώπου κατασκευής/About human structure» Migne, Vol 64, p 1149, meninx was derived by word μένειν/menein(stay, remain):  “δια του μένειν εν αυταίς τον εγκέφαλον =by remaining (menein) next to brain.
Coined/History
Mengitis is considerated that was known by Greek physician Hippocrates(460-375 B.C). In his Aphorisms is recorded as “stupidity, or a delirium, occasioned by a wound in the head, is bad”. This is explained as signs that meninges are violated and inflamed. Tuberculous meningitis was first described by Edinburgh physician Sir Robert Whytt in a posthumous report that appeared in 1768. During that  time, the  disease was called as the “dropsy in the  brain”. Meningitis outbreak was first recorded in Geneva, Switzerlan,  in 1805 by Gaspard Vieusseux (1746-1814) and Andre Matthey (1778-1842). The first evidence that linked bacterial infection as a cause of meningitis was written by Austrian bacteriology Anton Vaykselbaum (1845-1920)  who described meningococcal bacteria in 1887. Aseptic meningitis is  a benign syndrome that  first described by Wallgren in 1925 caused  usually by  viruses .
Definition

Meningitis is often a life-threatening inflammation of the meninges which envelope brain and spinal cord. Meningitis is generally caused by infection of viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and certain organisms. However, some non-infectious causes of meningitis also exist.

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