Children's Vaccines Health Center

Understanding Meningitis -- Prevention

Meningitis Vaccines continued...

Other Precautions in Meningitis Prevention

In addition to vaccinations, you should follow some commonsense precautions to help prevent meningitis. 

• Be careful around people who have meningitis. It's possible to catch some types of meningitis through contact with bodily fluids. So it might be spread by kissing, sneezing, coughing, or sharing utensils or toothbrushes. If someone in your family has it, try to limit contact with the infected person.
• Wash your hands after having contact with someone who has meningitis.

If you come into close contact with someone with meningitis, call your health care provider. Depending on the extent of exposure and the type of meningitis, you may need to take an antibiotic as a precaution.