What are the differences between meningococcal meningitis and Japanese encephalitis?

Meningococcal meningitis and Japanese encephalitis are two relatively common infectious diseases. The full name of meningococcal meningitis is meningococcal meningitis, and the full name of Japanese encephalitis is epidemic encephalitis Japanese. Both diseases are brain diseases, but there are certain differences between the two in essence. For example, meningococcal meningitis is caused by meningococci, while Japanese encephalitis is caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes. Below we will introduce the differences between meningococcal meningitis and Japanese encephalitis.

1. What is meningitis ?

Meningococcal meningitis is purulent meningitis caused by meningococci. The pathogenic bacteria invade the blood circulation from the nasopharynx and finally confine to the meninges and spinal cord membranes, forming purulent meningeal lesions. The main clinical manifestations are sudden fever, headache, vomiting, ecchymosis, petechiae on the skin, and neck stiffness, among other signs of meningeal irritation. The cerebrospinal fluid showed purulent changes. In addition, meningococci may not invade the meninges and may only manifest as sepsis, and severe cases may present with an fulminant attack. Infection can also occur in the upper and lower respiratory tract, joints, pericardium and eyes. The disease is found in countries around the world, either sporadically or in large or small epidemics, with the highest incidence in children.

2. What is Japanese encephalitis ?

Epidemic encephalitis B is also known as Japanese encephalitis B, abbreviated as JE. It is a natural epidemic disease caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus, transmitted by mosquitoes and prevalent in summer and autumn. After people are bitten by infected mosquitoes, most of them are latently infected, and only a few develop encephalitis. The incidence rate is generally between 2/100,000 and 10/100,000, and the mortality rate is relatively high, at around 10%. This disease mainly affects children, especially school-age children. Japanese encephalitis not only has a high mortality rate, but also has serious sequelae. About 30% of patients have residual sequelae of varying degrees after the illness. Therefore, Japanese encephalitis is an acute infectious disease that seriously threatens human health. It is mainly distributed in Asia and Southeast Asia. Clinically, it presents with acute onset of fever and varying degrees of central nervous system symptoms. Severe cases often leave sequelae after the disease.

3. The difference between meningococcal meningitis and Japanese encephalitis

Although Japanese encephalitis (JE) and meningococcal meningitis (epidemic encephalomyelitis) are both infectious diseases of the central nervous system and have some similarities in their clinical manifestations, they are two different diseases.

First of all, Japanese encephalitis is caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus, which is transmitted through mosquitoes first among livestock (such as piglets, horses, cattle, etc.) and then to humans. Meningococcal disease is caused by meningococci and is transmitted through respiratory droplets from carriers or patients.

The epidemic of Japanese encephalitis has strict seasonality, mostly occurring in summer and early autumn. Epidemics of meningococcal disease begin in late winter, are prevalent during the Spring Festival, and decline significantly in early summer. Their seasonality is not as strict as that of Japanese encephalitis.