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Old causes of death
Old causes of death · card M

Meningitis

Meningitis meant inflammation of the membranes covering the brain or spinal cord; old records used it loosely for many fevers with head pain and stupor.

Webster's 1913 defines meningitis as inflammation of the membranes of the brain or spinal cord. IPUMS has a code for meningitis and other infections of the brain.

The 1911 Census Bureau manual called plain meningitis, cerebral meningitis and spinal meningitis undesirable: doctors should write cerebrospinal fever for the epidemic disease, tuberculous meningitis for the tuberculous kind, and name the illness when meningitis was only its last stage.

As seen in a recordCause of death line, state death certificate, 1910s to 1930s
Cause: Meningitis. Duration: 4 ds.
Sources
How to cite this page

Daily Ancestor. "Meningitis." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/meningitis. Last checked 2026-10-12.

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