Is it true that if you walk in the winter without a hat, you can get meningitis?

Parents often scare children with the fact that, if you do not put on a hat in the cold, you can earn meningitis. We decided to check how great this danger is.

For the most part, the assertion that the abandonment of a hat in frost can lead to meningitis is transferred from mouth to mouth, from parents to children. These parental threats are ridiculed in humorous show And memes. However, this is opinion It is still possible Meet Even in Media And on television. Internet users Set questionIs it true. forums and in social networks. In the USSR, female Hatsalmost not closing their heads, they called meningitis - With a hint that those who wear them risk getting meningitis. 

First of all, you should figure out what it is meningitis. This is inflammation of the fluid and shells surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Most often it is caused by bacterial or viral infections. Viral Meningitis is most common and relatively less dangerous. Its pathogens are pigs, herpes, enteroviruses, HIV, etc. bacterial Meningitis dies every tenth sick, and every fifth even after recovery has severe consequences. More than half of all deaths from meningitis in the world falls on the bacterial type, and this despite the fact that it occurs much less than a viral.

There are much less common cases when meningitis develops Because of other reasons: for example, fungal infection, cancer tumor, head injuries, parasites (through polluted ponds or infected food), etc. But there are no hypothermia among them. Moreover, they most often suffer from meningitis in those countries where there are no frosts at all. According to centers for US diseases, the highest incidence is "Meningite belt" Africa south of Sahara.

“Frostbite” the brain and thus get inflammation will also not work: our body is excellent Protects Internal organs from hypothermia. So, blood vessels narrow in the cold, redirecting blood from the surface of the body inside, the muscles begin to tremble, produce heat, and hormones are produced, accelerating the metabolism. Therefore, you are much faster Frozen Your ears without a hat than "get a breeze" the brain.

Nevertheless, the incidence of meningitis in winter really rises. Why is it is happening? Firstly, in winter we often suffer from colds and flu, which reduce immunity and indirectly make our body more susceptible to pathogens of diseases. Secondly, we often spend time in a room with a large number of people, and this contributes to the spread of viruses and bacteria. So infection with meningitis in winter is easiest not in the cold, but in a warm room.

Here it is worth going to the side a bit and talk about why in winter people are sick more often-is it not because of that they don’t wear hats and freeze? There is a scientific community opinion, What immunity It may decrease due to hypothermia. However, many believe that the lack of diseases is much more affected by the lack of vitamin D due to the small amount of the sun (so, for example, mortality From Covid, it was four times higher among those patients who had a lack of this substance). In addition, respiratory tract cells are less active Produce Interferons (Squirrelsthat produce our cells in response to the invasion of pathogens) when cold air enters them. But the hat will not protect against this.

All authoritative medical organizations (for example, US Diseases Control Centers, WHO, Canadian Foundation Meningitis) It is conventional that the only effective way to prevent bacterial meningitis is vaccination, although it does not protect 100%. This is especially true for those who can potentially contact patients or are going on a trip to countries where meningitis is most common. 

There is no vaccination from viral meningitis, so specialists Offer Follow the general recommendations of protection against viruses: to wash your hands more often, especially before meals, disinfect surfaces, less often to be in places of people's accumulation. Nevertheless, among prevention measures, not a single type of meningitis, warm clothing in the cold is not listed.

Where did this myth come from? Yuri Povvazdin, scientist from the Department of Physiology of the Southeast University Nova USA, Studied This question came to the conclusion that before meningitis, or inflammation of the brain, was associated with extreme temperatures, emotional experiences and other factors. Scientists have refuted all these versions at the beginning of the last century. Nevertheless, in Russian culture (and it really failed to find this myth in the English -language segment of the Internet) erroneous ideas were reflected in the work of Solzhenitsyn, Paustovsky, Pasternak and other writers. It is with this that the jabsin connects the spread in Russia, as if meningitis can develop if you go out into the street with a wet head or not wear a hat. 

Thus, there is no direct relationship between frosts and meningitis, except for some general decrease in immunity against the background of hypothermia and more susceptibility of a person to any viruses and bacteria. At the same time, no authoritative medical organization calls hypothermia among the reasons that can cause this disease, and does not include warm clothes, including a hat, in the list of recommended preventive measures. You will not work out to “freeze” the brain either, the human body has a thermoregulation system that prevents this. But to frostbite your ears is easily, so it’s better to wear a hat in the cold.

Not true

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