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Source: http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/feat...-of.5694489.jp
Thursday, 1st October 2009
Don't ignore the signs of meningitis: it could save your baby's life...
Published Date: 01 October 2009
Meningitis can kill or leave children severely disabled ? early diagnosis is crucial
At breakfast-time, baby Leo Steel seemed a little off-colour.
By dinner-time he had died, been resuscitated in hospital and was fighting for his life.
The seven-month-old baby had meningitis ? the illness that strikes fear into the heart of every parent.
Now, at the beginning of the peak meningitis season, which runs through the autumn and winter, Leo's case is being used by the Meningitis Research Found-ation to help draw attention to the killer disease's symptoms in babies.
Leo, who was grumpy, hot and sleepy on the morning his meningitis started, had a pin-prick rash by the afternoon when he was rushed to hospital.
Meningitis acts with terrifying speed ? Leo was dead on arrival at the hospital and was resuscitated.
Thankfully, he survived ? but one in 10 of the 1,000 babies who contract the illness every year die.
One of those was six-month-old Amrit Bharj, whose meningitis wasn't diagnosed when she was first taken to hospital.
Her condition deteriorated and she was rushed back, but suffered severe brain damage and died 10 days after showing the first signs of the illness.
Amrit and Leo's stories illustrate just how fast and deadly meningitis can be.
Leo's mother, 35-year-old Lucy Steel, from Surrey, says: "They resuscitated him but the speed of the disease was ferocious.
"We know how lucky we have been and are thankful every day."
The disease can be especially damaging in young babies, and a quarter of those who survive can be left with after-effects.
Leo suffered a degree of hearing loss, but some survivors can be left completely deaf, or suffer brain damage and need limbs amputated.
Babies under 12 months old are much more likely to get meningitis ? they run a 38 times higher risk of contracting the disease than children over one and adults.
This is partly because babies can get meningitis from bacteria that may not affect older people.
And although vaccines are reducing meningitis in older children, they can't be given to babies under two months.
The foundation says better recognition and treatment could reduce death and disability from meningitis and has just launched a new research project to determine how many babies are affected and whether hospital treatment is consistent nationally.
Foundation spokesman Adrian Robson says: "There are specific things people need to look out for in babies.
"You need to be a little bit more on guard looking for symptoms, as they can't tell you if they're unwell."
Symptoms in babies include high temperature, a sleepy or staring expression, vomiting or refusing to feed, extreme shivering and a stiff body with jerky movements.
Not every baby gets all the symptoms but if it's meningitis they'll get worse fast. Parents with any worries at all should take their baby to a doctor immediately.
"Trust your instincts," says Robson. "We've had so many parents come to us and say they just knew, had some sort of gut reaction that it was not colic or teething.
"Often in those situations where a parent has trusted their instincts and got help early enough, it has helped save their baby's life."
Certainly, that was the case with nine-month-old Cieran Burke, whose desperate mother Sue, 29, was told by three doctors that his fever was not meningitis.
"I was basically told I was an over-anxious mother," she says.
But when her drowsy son was wincing in pain the next day, she returned to the doctors. Although she was informed Cieran had "nothing severe", she was told to take him to hospital where, within an hour, he'd had a lumbar puncture and was started on IV antibiotics.
The next day he was diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis.
Cieran, from Merseyside, survived but is profoundly deaf and has epilepsy and slight cerebral palsy.
His mum explains: "I asked the doctor could my son possibly have meningitis as I had a friend that contracted it and I recognised the similarities.
"I was fobbed off with a bottle of Calpol."
However, the foundation points out that diagnosis can be difficult, as the early signs of meningitis are similar to those of much less serious childhood illnesses.
Robson says: "There are plenty of stories where medical staff do pick up on the symptoms and get help as quickly as possible. Lives are saved through early treatment because meningitis comes on so quickly.
"We always encourage people to keep an eye on babies, checking them every half hour. And if things do get worse, go back to the doctors.
"Better to be safe than sorry."
"Parents need to know the symptoms, because you can see the first signs at breakfast-time and be fighting for your life by tea-time."
The campaign to raise awareness of meningitis in babies is being supported by actress Billie Piper, mother to 11-month-old Winston.
She says: "Meningitis is every parent's nightmare. The campaign will raise awareness among parents of young babies, which is essential as it can be very difficult to spot meningitis in babies."
Thursday, 1st October 2009
Don't ignore the signs of meningitis: it could save your baby's life...
Published Date: 01 October 2009
Meningitis can kill or leave children severely disabled ? early diagnosis is crucial
At breakfast-time, baby Leo Steel seemed a little off-colour.
By dinner-time he had died, been resuscitated in hospital and was fighting for his life.
The seven-month-old baby had meningitis ? the illness that strikes fear into the heart of every parent.
Now, at the beginning of the peak meningitis season, which runs through the autumn and winter, Leo's case is being used by the Meningitis Research Found-ation to help draw attention to the killer disease's symptoms in babies.
Leo, who was grumpy, hot and sleepy on the morning his meningitis started, had a pin-prick rash by the afternoon when he was rushed to hospital.
Meningitis acts with terrifying speed ? Leo was dead on arrival at the hospital and was resuscitated.
Thankfully, he survived ? but one in 10 of the 1,000 babies who contract the illness every year die.
One of those was six-month-old Amrit Bharj, whose meningitis wasn't diagnosed when she was first taken to hospital.
Her condition deteriorated and she was rushed back, but suffered severe brain damage and died 10 days after showing the first signs of the illness.
Amrit and Leo's stories illustrate just how fast and deadly meningitis can be.
Leo's mother, 35-year-old Lucy Steel, from Surrey, says: "They resuscitated him but the speed of the disease was ferocious.
"We know how lucky we have been and are thankful every day."
The disease can be especially damaging in young babies, and a quarter of those who survive can be left with after-effects.
Leo suffered a degree of hearing loss, but some survivors can be left completely deaf, or suffer brain damage and need limbs amputated.
Babies under 12 months old are much more likely to get meningitis ? they run a 38 times higher risk of contracting the disease than children over one and adults.
This is partly because babies can get meningitis from bacteria that may not affect older people.
And although vaccines are reducing meningitis in older children, they can't be given to babies under two months.
The foundation says better recognition and treatment could reduce death and disability from meningitis and has just launched a new research project to determine how many babies are affected and whether hospital treatment is consistent nationally.
Foundation spokesman Adrian Robson says: "There are specific things people need to look out for in babies.
"You need to be a little bit more on guard looking for symptoms, as they can't tell you if they're unwell."
Symptoms in babies include high temperature, a sleepy or staring expression, vomiting or refusing to feed, extreme shivering and a stiff body with jerky movements.
Not every baby gets all the symptoms but if it's meningitis they'll get worse fast. Parents with any worries at all should take their baby to a doctor immediately.
"Trust your instincts," says Robson. "We've had so many parents come to us and say they just knew, had some sort of gut reaction that it was not colic or teething.
"Often in those situations where a parent has trusted their instincts and got help early enough, it has helped save their baby's life."
Certainly, that was the case with nine-month-old Cieran Burke, whose desperate mother Sue, 29, was told by three doctors that his fever was not meningitis.
"I was basically told I was an over-anxious mother," she says.
But when her drowsy son was wincing in pain the next day, she returned to the doctors. Although she was informed Cieran had "nothing severe", she was told to take him to hospital where, within an hour, he'd had a lumbar puncture and was started on IV antibiotics.
The next day he was diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis.
Cieran, from Merseyside, survived but is profoundly deaf and has epilepsy and slight cerebral palsy.
His mum explains: "I asked the doctor could my son possibly have meningitis as I had a friend that contracted it and I recognised the similarities.
"I was fobbed off with a bottle of Calpol."
However, the foundation points out that diagnosis can be difficult, as the early signs of meningitis are similar to those of much less serious childhood illnesses.
Robson says: "There are plenty of stories where medical staff do pick up on the symptoms and get help as quickly as possible. Lives are saved through early treatment because meningitis comes on so quickly.
"We always encourage people to keep an eye on babies, checking them every half hour. And if things do get worse, go back to the doctors.
"Better to be safe than sorry."
"Parents need to know the symptoms, because you can see the first signs at breakfast-time and be fighting for your life by tea-time."
The campaign to raise awareness of meningitis in babies is being supported by actress Billie Piper, mother to 11-month-old Winston.
She says: "Meningitis is every parent's nightmare. The campaign will raise awareness among parents of young babies, which is essential as it can be very difficult to spot meningitis in babies."