Case history
Case history #1
A 19-year-old man presents with a 2-day history of headache and associated nausea. He says that bright light hurts his eyes. He has no significant past medical history, is not currently taking any medicine, and reports no drug allergies. He works as a librarian and has not travelled overseas for the past year. He lives with his girlfriend whom he has been with for 2 years. They have a pet hamster.
Case history #2
Parents bring their 2-year-old child who has been ill for 1 day with irritability, vomiting, and fever. The child has a widespread maculopapular rash.
Other presentations
The symptoms and signs of viral meningitis are similar to those of bacterial meningitis, and it may be impossible to differentiate the two conditions clinically. For detailed information on bacterial meningitis, see Bacterial meningitis in adults and Bacterial meningitis in children.
Headache and fever are typically prominent.[1][2] Patients may also describe photophobia, neck stiffness, and nausea.[3][4] Other non-specific symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting, myalgia, and sore throat can also occur.[2] There may be an associated rash. In young children, presentation may be non-specific and therefore arriving at a diagnosis can be a challenge.[5] Children may also present with seizures and this does not necessarily indicate the presence of encephalitis. Mollaret's meningitis is a benign recurrent meningitis thought to be caused by herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2).
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