Transmission

The majority of organisms that cause meningitis are transmitted from person to person via droplets of respiratory or throat secretions.  This may occur through kissing, sneezing and coughing on someone, living in close proximity to a carrier or sharing eating and drinking utensils.  The bacteria that cause meningitis do not survive for long outside the human body and so cannot be picked up from surfaces or water.

Meningitis may also occur following head injury and damage to the meninges, which allows the bacterium to enter the bloodstream and cross the blood-brain barrier, leading to disease.