Tuesday, 8 November 2011

Meningitis - Break The Myth

Those of you that are regular readers of the blog will know that earlier this year Little E was admitted to hospital with suspected meningitis and had to undergo a lumbar puncture to prove otherwise. Luckily it was a different kind of bacterial infection she was suffering with and after several nights in hospital she eventually made a full recovery.

When I was a child, I was also suspected of having meningitis and so the subject is something that is very close to my heart. That is why, when an email from the Meningitis Trust popped in to my inbox less than an hour ago, I wanted to post about thier new 'Break The Myth' campaign straight away.

This new campaign aims to break the common misconception that a meningitis rash appears in every case of meningitis. This is NOT TRUE. If someone has meningitis but not septicaemia, they will not have a rash that does not fade, but they can still be seriously unwell. You should never wait for a rash.

Meningitis is the disease parents fear the most and with 50% of all cases occurring in children under five, it's easy to see why. The Meningitis Trust are encouraging parents to familiarise themselves with the symptoms, so that they can spot any of the tell-tale signs straight away and get urgent medical help. Please watch this video and spread the word.



To find out ALL the signs and symptoms of meningitis please visit www.meningitis-trust.org/symptoms

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for posting this. My son was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis earlier this year aged just 3wks. We've since discovered lots about meningitis and were told that the rash can be one of the last symptoms to show up and it is often too late by this stage. It'd about time peole were made aware of the early symptoms. Mu son had 3 classic symptoms and still NHS Direct missed it.
    Everyone says 'ooh did he have a rash?' when we say he had meningitis. No, he didn't but he still ended up in ICU and we nearly lost him to septicaemia.
    This campaign is long overdue.

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