Meningitis Symptoms: Incubation Period & Timeline

Symptoms of meningitis can appear very quickly, sometimes developing over a matter of hours. The time between exposure to the infection and the appearance of symptoms is called the incubation period. For bacterial meningitis, the incubation period is typically 2 to 10 days, but it can be as short as 1 day or as long as 2 weeks. For viral meningitis, the incubation period is typically 3 to 7 days, but it can be up to 2 weeks.