1. What is meningitis
Meningitis can be caused by a number of viruses and bacteria. There are approximately 3,500 to 4,000 reported cases of meningitis per year in the UK. Meningitis is the disease that is most feared by parents of young children.
Meningitis occurs when the meninges, the membranes that line the brain and spinal cord, become infected. The meninges act as a barrier to stop infection reaching the central nervous system.
The most common cause of meningitis is a viral infection. Although viral meningitis is a less severe illness than bacterial forms of the disease, it can still be very debilitating and, in very rare cases, can progress through headache, fever and drowsiness to deep coma. Whilst viral infections are spread from person to person and cause a wide spectrum of conditions, only a minority of individuals will get meningitis.
Bacterial meningitis, the less common form of the disease, is always associated with serious and severe illness.
Meningococcal and pneumococcal infections are the most common causes of bacterial meningitis. They can also cause septicaemia (blood poisoning), which can spread through the body, causing very serious illness.
Many people who get the infection have some symptoms of both meningitis and septicaemia. People can have predominantly symptoms of meningitis (e.g. neck stiffness, sensitivity to light), septicaemia (e.g. red or purple spots that do not fade, cold hands and feet and rapid breathing), or symptoms of both meningitis and septicaemia.
Parents of children or young adults who have died of septicaemia have called for more awareness of this form of meningococcal disease. It can present with very severe ‘flu like’ symptoms, with none of the classical signs of meningitis, and so it can sometimes be missed or misdiagnosed. If no rash develops but the person’s condition is deteriorating rapidly, they should be taken to hospital.
Although meningitis can occur at any time of year, some forms of the disease have clear seasonal peaks – meningococcal meningitis is most prevalent between December and February, whereas viral meningitis is more common in the summer.
The septicaemic form is the more dangerous; however, both meningitis and septicaemia are very serious, potentially fatal diseases, and must be treated immediately.
