Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London’s most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his only novel, his plays, and the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death from cerebral meningitis on 30 November 1900.

Brad Pitt

After returning from a trip to Ethiopia in 2005, Brad Pitt started to complain of symptoms similar to the flu. After checking himself Los Angeles hospital Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on a Monday night in early July, he found out the diagnosis was far worse: he was in fact suffering from viral meningitis, After spending two days in hospital, Brad Pitt was released to recover at home.

John (Rotten) Lydon

Born to Irish parents, John (Johnny Rotten) Lyon is the eldest of three brothers. At the age of seven he contracted a serious bout of meningitis which put him in and out of coma’s for almost a year. Wiping most of his early memories and affecting his eyesight. He was in the Sex Pistols from 1975 to 1978 when they split.

Donald Sutherland

When he fell ill with meningitis in 1979 while filming Kelly’s Heroes, actor Donald Sutherland thought he was done for. He said he remembers how all the pain and suffering he was feeling suddenly vanished as he felt himself leave his body. Physicians later him that he had passed away for a very short time.

Lisa Snowdon

The model was hospitalised in November 2010 when she became seriously ill and was diagnosed with viral meningitis after an MRI and CAT scan showed swelling around her brain and spinal cord. But Lisa, who had experienced symptoms including severe headaches, loss of appetite and weakness, knows she put her health at risk by not getting checked out sooner.

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Meningitis and septicaemia can kill in hours – know the symptoms

The first symptoms are usually fever, vomiting, headache and feeling unwell. Red ticks show symptoms more specific to meningitis and septicaemia and less common in milder illnesses. Limb pain, pale skin, and cold hands and feet often appear earlier than the rash, neck stiffness, dislike of bright lights and confusion.

		Septicaemia	Meningitis
	Fever and/or vomiting
	Severe headache
	Limb/joint/muscle pain (sometimes with pain/diarrhoea)
	Cold hand and feet/shivering
	Pale or mottled skin
	Breathing fast/breathless
	Rash (anywhere on the body)
	Stiff neck (less common in young children)
	Dislike of bright lights (less common in young children)
	Very sleepy /vacant /difficult to wake
	Confused /delirious
	Seizures (fits) may also be seen

Other signs in babies:

• Tense or bulging soft spot on their head
• Refusing to feed
• Irritable when picked up, with a high pitched or moaning cry
• A stiff body with jerky movements, or else floppy and lifeless
• Fever is often absent in babies less than three months of age

Septicaemia can occur with or without meningitis. Not everyone gets all the symptoms and they can appear in any order.

What should I do if I am worried about someone who is ill?

Trust your instincts. Someone who has meningitis or septicaemia could become seriously ill very quickly. Get medical help immediately if you suspect meningitis or septicaemia – it’s a race against time.

The tumbler test

If you are seriously worried about someone who is ill, don’t wait for a rash to appear – get medical help. But if they are already ill and get a new rash or spots, use the Tumbler Test.

Press a clear glass tumbler firmly against the rash. If you can see the marks clearly through the glass seek urgent medical help immediately.

Check the entire body. Look out for tiny red or brown pin-prick marks which can change into larger red or purple blotches and blood blisters.

The darker the skin the harder it is to see a septicaemic rash so check lighter areas like the palms of hands and soles of feet or look inside the eyelids and the roof of the mouth.

Remember, a very ill person needs medical help even if there are only a few spots, a rash or no rash at all.

What are meningitis and septicaemia?

Meningitis is inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord – the meninges. Septicaemia is blood poisoning caused by the same germs and is the more life threatening form of the disease. Septicaemia can occur with or without meningitis.

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What are meningitis and septicaemia?

Meningitis and septicaemia can kill in hours.

Meningitis is the inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord.

Septicaemia is the blood poisoning form of the disease.

The two forms of the disease have different symptoms. People who recover from meningitis and septicaemia may be left with a range of after effects that dramatically alter their lives.

Meningitis is usually bacterial or viral, and occasionally is due to fungal infections, although almost any microbe can cause it.

Viral meningitis can be very unpleasant but it is almost never life threatening and most people quickly make a full recovery.

Bacterial meningitis is more serious and can be caused by a range of different bacteria.

Most cases in the UK and Ireland are caused by meningococcal bacteria.

Meningococcal bacteria can cause meningitis, septicaemia or both. Most people who get the disease have some symptoms of both meningococcal meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia; together these two forms of the disease are known as meningococcal disease.

Septicaemia is the more life threatening form of the disease and is more dangerous when there are no signs of meningitis.

Other major forms of bacterial meningitis are:

• Pneumococcal
• Haemophilus infuenzae b (Hib)

Bacterial forms that mostly, though not exclusively, affect newborn babies are:

• Group B Streptococcal (GBS)
• E. coli
• Listeria 

There are vaccines available against some types of meningitis and septicaemia which have reduced the number of cases in the UK and Ireland:

• Meningococcal Group C (MenC)
• Pneumococcal vaccine in the UK
• Pneumococcal vaccine in Irelan
• Haemophilus infuenzae b (Hib)

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