1. Age-Related Risk Factors
If you're a parent of a toddler 5-years old or younger, talk to your pediatrician about vaccines that can protect your infant against meningitis. While following the normally prescribed schedule of shots and boosters offers some protection, there are vaccines available that protect specifically against meningitis. Children as young as 2 can qualify for a meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV4) shot.
The majority of meningitis cases affect adolescents and young adults between 15 and 24. If you're in this age range, you're at added risk because you're constantly in close contact with hundreds of people in school. Vaccines don't offer complete protection against meningitis infection, so take immediate action if you notice signs and symptoms. A stiff neck and flu-like symptoms are usually the first warning signs. Senior citizens and older adults are at heightened risk, because the immune system tends to weaken with age.
2. Be Careful in Communal Living Situations
If you live in a cooperative complex, dormitory, camp or anywhere else in which you share living space with other people in close quarters, you're at heightened risk. If a single case of meningitis occurs, it can spread rapidly, before symptoms develop in the initially infected person, and a full-scale outbreak could soon be the result. Seniors living in dedicated care centers face the same risk factors as college students living in a dorm. If you have concerns about meningitis outbreaks, talk to a member of your facility's medical staff.
3. Avoid Known Outbreaks and Exercise Caution in Public
If a case of meningitis is confirmed at your school or workplace, it makes sense to avoid spending time there unnecessarily. Should you be compelled for some reason or another to visit the facility, make sure to avoid close contact with other people, take care when handling shared objects like doors and hand railings and wash your hands thoroughly and often.
4. Protect Yourself if You Work With Animals
Both pets and commercial animals can transmit listeria bacteria, an infection that can lead to meningitis in humans. You're at risk if you work on a ranch or farm, or have consistent close contact with dogs and cats, such as at a kennel, animal hospital or pet care center. Consistent, thorough hand washing is the best defense against listeria infection.
5. Pregnant Women and Additional Risk Factors
Like farmers, ranchers and people who have continual contact with domesticated animals, pregnant women are more susceptible to listeria infections. Talk to your doctor about this, since a case of meningitis will also affect your unborn child, potentially causing severely debilitating complications.
