When is a headache a symptom of meningitis?

Rarely: If there is a fever, stiff neck, and generalized bodily discomfort, associated with confusion, the headache may merely be secondary to the meningitis infection. Most often, however, headaches are due to migraine, tension or muscle contraction mechanisms, and mainly due to non-infectious causation. This is often sorted out in hospital emergency departments by a lumbar puncture.