Tom is a football player who gets hit hard from behind along his spine. about a week later, he is diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, an infection of the csf carried through the bloodstream. given that the infection was associated with blood, which hypothesis is most likely to have occurred?

The pia matter tore away from the spinal cord, damaging the associated blood vessels, which leaked into the subarachnoid space. When the player was hit hard, the pia matter was torn away from the spinal cord. This in turn damaged the blood vessels in the area causing them to leak into the subarachnoid space. This is how the infection occurred.