Meningitis is a disease which can kill in hours and yet a lot of people don’t know what it is, let alone its’ symptoms.

It affects 3,200 people a year, killing 1 in 10 of these, and yet it seems to be a problem which goes largely unreported.

Many people, especially young adults don’t realise that they have meningitis until it’s too late, resulting in many unnecessary deaths.

With a large number of 15-19 year olds heading off for their first year at university, this may be the first time they’ve lived away from home and so health may not be a priority. Flu-like symptoms will simply be passed off as ‘Freshers Flu’, which in some cases can be a fatal mistake.

The meningococcal bacteria, which can lead to meningitis, is carried by 1 in every 4 young adults, compared to 1 in 10 people when looking at the UK population as a whole.

Once meningitis has set in, it can kill within a matter of hours, and even survivors don’t always fully recover. Side effects of the disease include: organ problems, hearing and sight loss, and loss of limbs.

With the possible devastating effect of this disease, it’s surprising that knowledge of meningitis and its’ symptoms are not more widely known, and this is something that I’m hoping this project will address.

 

Featured image credit: George Hodan