What is meningitis?

What is meningitis?
Meningitis is an illness where protective membranes that surround the brain start to become inflamed.
As a first aider you should try to recognise ‘alarming symptoms’ and if needed, call an Ambulance. It is always better to call it 5 times unnecessarily than not at all and put a child’s life and health at risk.
We at Siren Training cover Meningitis on our 3 day First Aid courses / Paediatric First Aid courses to try and raise awareness on these ‘alarming symptoms’. It’s been in the news a lot lately as I’m sure you’ve heard. Some of the news and images we saw on the TV were very distressing. It is a very dangerous illness because the disease can develop very fast (during a couple of hours) – from full health to death.

 

Unfortunately, in Meningitis, most of the symptoms are fairly unspecific. Whether you’ve received first aid training or not, it’s easy to confuse them with other, frequent symptoms we all suffer from. Assessing the child’s condition, try to look at them holistically, rather than seeking for individual symptoms. We can divide them into two categories: a general one and specific for meningitis.

What are the symptoms of meningitis?
General (non-specific) symptoms (we wouldn’t treat them as life-threatening when they occur separately) may include fever, vomiting, headache, sleeplessness, cold hands and feet, muscle pain.
We also have other symptoms – much more specific. Whenever we notice them, we should obtain medical advice: blotchy rash, stiff neck, confusion (lowered levels of consciousness), photophobia (dislike of bright light).
A useful tool to differentiate normal rash from meningitis can be the glass tumbler test. Whenever you notice a blotchy rash on someone’s skin, take a glass and press firmly to the skin. If the rash is still visible, it means that there is a huge possibility that it is meningitis and urgent medical help is needed.
Remember that medical symptoms will not always appear according to the list in the First Aid course book you’ve read or on a Google forum. Every child/adult is an individual and may manifest their illness in a different way (you may not see all of the symptoms).
You, as a parent/carer know your child the best – whenever you see that their condition is changing, if you have any doubts, call an Ambulance.

 

Most common questions and answers regarding meningitis:

1. Is meningitis life threatening?
Yes, it is. Additionally, this illness can develop very quickly, and the first symptoms may not be typical. Alarmingly nearly half of all cases of meningitis results in the GP initially sending the child back home thinking it’s a fever or the flu. As a parent or carer, think about asking your GP if they can rule out Meningitis. It just may make them think twice before sending someone home with a prescription.
2. What are the typical symptoms of meningitis?
In most cases, the casualty will suffer from a headache, neck stiffness (or only increased neck muscle tone) with a sudden high fever. Those three symptoms very rarely occur together (in about 40% cases).
3. What can cause Meningitis?
In most cases, it will be caused by bacteria or viruses, but sometimes other factors may contribute, like fungi, drugs (antibiotics, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs), tumours, etc.
4. Are there any differences between the treatment of baby and adult meningitis?
Yes. The problem is with babies is, we cannot communicate with them and some of the symptoms may not be visual. These listed here should alarm us: constant crying, poor feeding, high fever, excessive sleepiness and irritability, stiffness in a baby’s body and neck, blotchy rash, inactivity.

5. Can meningitis be confused with other illnesses?
Yes, unfortunately, it can sometimes be confused with the flu or a fever. As mentioned above, if in doubt and some of the symptoms we’ve mentioned become apparent, please don’t hesitate to take action and consult the emergency services or your GP.
Yes, very easily, especially with the flu (cold hands and feet, headache, muscle pain).

This article was written by one of Siren Training’s senior London First Aid course instructors. We felt it was a timely reminder to parents and carers of the dangers of Meningitis given recent events. We hope you found it useful and we pray you’ll never even have to tackle this subject.
Meningitis is one of the topics in our Paediatric First Aid training courses (based on OFSTED guidelines) which we run 3 times a month at our venue in Old Street.