New students urged to learn signs of meningitis
The disease can kill in hours with students some of those most at risk
Students starting their time at university across the West Country are being urged to learn the symptoms of meningitis, to prevent potential tragedies.
In rare cases the disease can kill in hours with students some of those most at risk, but initial symptoms are often confused for a common flu or stomach bug.
With the University of Bristol having been hosting their Welcome Week this week (September 9-13), the University of the West of England hosting theirs next week and both Bath universities hosting theirs the week after (September 23-27), the charity Meningitis Now is launching its annual campaign to educate people about the dangers.
"The early signs and symptoms are easy to confuse with very common and every day things such as flu or a hangover, because it is things like a headache, it's a fever, vomiting for example," Tom Nutt, chief executive of Meningitis Now, said.
"But as the disease progresses people may experience things such as cold hands and cold feet accompanying that fever, they may experience an aversion to bright lights, a stiff neck and in some but not all cases, there may be a rash appearing on the skin and that's a rash that doesn't dissipate under pressure such as rolling a glass over it.
"Those symptoms may appear, not in any particular order and it may not be all of them, but it's always accompanied by the rapid deterioration in someone's health and in those cases we're encouraging people to sound the alarm, seek urgent medical help and that means phoning 111 or 999."
Ryan's story
Ryan Bresnahan from Bristol was 16 at the time he fell ill in 2010, so he was still a short time away from going to university, but his story illustrates how quickly meningitis can strike.
Michelle Bresnahan, Ryan's mum, who now campaigns to raise awareness of the disease, said: "Ryan woke up (on) a very normal Wednesday morning.
"He had been sick and felt very tired, but nothing that concerned me (enough) to leave him and pop out to the shops and get his favourite food and energy drink that we were going to have at home with Charlotte, his sister.
"There was nothing that made me concerned to leave him."
On arriving home however, Michelle saw an ambulance crew parked outside.
"He'd been at the gym the night before, he'd been watching the football with his dad, it was just such a normal time in his life, that then just flipped. Within a few hours we were phoning his friends and family to say that he'd died of meningitis."
In response Ryan's family set up the charity A Life for a Cure, which to date has raised more than £600,000 for meningitis research.
Sophia's story
Sophia began to feel unwell whilst in her first year at the University of Manchester, in 2023.
"It all happened over the course of about a day," she said.
"I woke up one morning and felt very achy and that very quickly progressed to vomiting, constantly vomiting throughout the day...what I thought at the time was a sick bug.
"But by the evening I was feeling sensitive to light, sensitive to my TV screen and the next morning I woke up and felt even worse...very, very dizzy, I couldn't even get up out of bed, so I texted my mum who quickly rang me, we spoke on FaceTime and she very quickly realised that I could barely respond to what she was saying."
Sophia's mum managed to ring university security and get Sophia herself to raise the alarm with her friends, with an ambulance then taking her to hospital.
She spent two weeks being treated for sepsis as well as meningitis and ended up losing some hearing in her right ear as well as suffering various other complications.
The message
If you or someone you know is off to university this autumn, it's crucial they know how to spot the signs. Additionally various vaccines are now available against meningitis, which you can find out more about here.
"Our message today about treating meningitis in an emergency is two fold really," Tom said.
"It's about getting those vaccinations when you can, from the NHS, but equally being aware that those vaccinations won't give you complete safety.
"Life saving is about awareness and it's also about vaccinations."
If you want to find out more about meningitis you can visit the Meningitis Now website here, while Ryan's site A Life for a Cure is here.