Meningitis under the microscope
5/5/202628 min
Today, we put meningitis under the microscope. Robin May at the UK Health Security Agency explains this group of conditions and how his team might respond to an incident; Kat Sharrocks at Addenbrooke's Hospital details a range of symptoms associated with meningitis; and the Oxford Vaccine Group's Andrew Pollard on the protection that inoculation offers... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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First 90 secondsKat Sharrocks· Guest0:02
All engine running.
Chris Smith· Host0:03
[laughs] Absolute genius. Get this.
Robin May· Guest0:04
Welcome.
Chris Smith· Host0:05
Welcome. [laughs] This is the show where we bring you- Science ... what that essentially means is- Discoveries ...
Robin May· Guest0:10
thoughts as- Questions ... research Technology Unbelievable.
Chris Smith· Host0:13
Without further ado- This is The Naked Scientists. Hello, welcome to The Naked Scientists podcast, the program that brings you the biggest breakthroughs and also talks to the major movers and shakers in the worlds of science, technology, and medicine. I'm Chris Smith, and today, bacterial meningitis is going under our microscope. [upbeat music] Bacterial meningitis is a serious, but thankfully now relatively uncommon infection, which is caused most often by the meningococcus bacterium, Neisseria meningitidis. And believe it or not, this is actually commonly carried in our noses and throats. In some instances, as many as one person in four are found to be harboring it, although in the majority of those cases it causes absolutely no problems whatsoever. But in some people infected with certain forms of the bug, and perhaps in response to another antecedent infection or a problem with their immune system, it can become invasive, spreading through the bloodstream to involve the meninges, the tissues surrounding the brain, and also triggering sepsis. The onset is often very abrupt, catching people