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11/01/2006
Parents warned of early meningitis symptoms
Parents are being given new advice about early signs of meningitis, after a study identified several early symptoms.
Researchers at Oxford University have suggested that parents should watch out for leg pain, abnormally pale or mottled skin and cold hands or feet, as well as the traditional symptoms of a red rash, stiff neck and sensitivity to light, which can take longer to develop.
The team examined the cases of 448 children who had contracted the most deadly form of the disease, bacterial meningitis.
Researchers found that most of the children exhibited only non-specific symptoms within the first four to six hours of contracting the disease.
However, within eight hours, researchers said that around 72% began to develop identifiable early symptoms. The traditional symptoms, meanwhile, could take as long as 22 hours to appear, by which time the children were close to becoming critically ill.
Writing in the medical journal, 'The Lancet', Dr Matthew Thompson, leader of the research team, said: "We believe that primary-care clinicians are over-reliant on using these symptoms to diagnose meningococcal disease in children. Moreover, clinicians and parents may be falsely reassured by the absence of these features."
Dr Thompson said that, while the traditional symptoms should not be undermined, diagnosis could be substantially speeded up if the identification of early symptoms was acted upon.
Bacterial meningitis is the leading infectious cause of death in children in developed countries, such as the UK.
At least four in every 100,000 British children will become ill with meningococcal disease and 10% of those will die.
(KMcA)
Researchers at Oxford University have suggested that parents should watch out for leg pain, abnormally pale or mottled skin and cold hands or feet, as well as the traditional symptoms of a red rash, stiff neck and sensitivity to light, which can take longer to develop.
The team examined the cases of 448 children who had contracted the most deadly form of the disease, bacterial meningitis.
Researchers found that most of the children exhibited only non-specific symptoms within the first four to six hours of contracting the disease.
However, within eight hours, researchers said that around 72% began to develop identifiable early symptoms. The traditional symptoms, meanwhile, could take as long as 22 hours to appear, by which time the children were close to becoming critically ill.
Writing in the medical journal, 'The Lancet', Dr Matthew Thompson, leader of the research team, said: "We believe that primary-care clinicians are over-reliant on using these symptoms to diagnose meningococcal disease in children. Moreover, clinicians and parents may be falsely reassured by the absence of these features."
Dr Thompson said that, while the traditional symptoms should not be undermined, diagnosis could be substantially speeded up if the identification of early symptoms was acted upon.
Bacterial meningitis is the leading infectious cause of death in children in developed countries, such as the UK.
At least four in every 100,000 British children will become ill with meningococcal disease and 10% of those will die.
(KMcA)
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