"My daughter's meningitis has been diagnosed as an infection of the ear"

It was a Sunday of last August and Kirstie Walkden's nine-month-old daughter, Amy, had been in disarray for a few days.

Worried, she decided to take her to the local accident and emergency unit, where Amy was diagnosed with an ear infection and sent home with her. drugs.

Two days later, her condition worsened. She had a very high temperature, no longer ate and no longer drank and became limp.

Her mother brought her back to the hospital. "Hell has lost everything," says Walkden, 29. "In less than an hour, she was put in an induced coma and was diagnosed with sepsis and later pneumococcal meningitis."

It was 18 days before she was ready to be released.

Amy is fine now, although the family will not know for a few years if there are long-term effects.

"It could have been so different," his mother said. "If we had brought her to the hospital later, she might not have survived."

"We should have received more advice"

Ms. Walkden, a native of northwestern England, is now supporting a call by the Meningitis Research Foundation for parents to receive good advice on bacterial meningitis and sepsis in babies and young children.

"We felt reassured when the hospital told us that it was an ear infection," she said. "We were not told to look for something else.

"If we had it, we would have brought it earlier.

Tips from the NHS Advisory Institute The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) says the NHS should provide parents with "safety" tips they attract children with symptoms that may be a sign of meningitis and sepsis.

Conditions can be difficult to detect early because the symptoms, including elevated temperature and vomiting, are similar to those of many less serious diseases.

But a report published by the Meningitis Research Foundation suggested that this safety net does not always happen.

He cites a study last year that suggests that nearly one-third of youth with meningitis receive inappropriate early treatment, delaying parents' demand for help.

The report includes personal accounts of more than 100 parents, many of whom were sent home with little advice after their first visit to a health professional.

Vinny Smith, general manager of the charity, says that without safety tips, parents can be referred to medical consultation soon after being hospitalized or by a general practitioner.

"When a child is sick and worsens quickly, parents should not be afraid to seek urgent medical help – even if they have already been seen by a doctor the same day," she says.

What is meningitis and sepsis?

Meningitis is an infection of the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord.

It can affect anyone, but it is more common in babies, young children, adolescents and young adults.

Meningitis can be very serious if it is not treated quickly. It can cause life-threatening blood poisoning – sepsis – and cause permanent damage to the brain or nerves.

Symptoms include:

• a temperature of 38 ° C or more
• Be sick
• a headache
• a rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over
• a rigid neck
• an aversion to lights
• drowsiness or lack of response
• crises

These symptoms may appear in any order and some may not appear.

The diseases are sometimes known as meningococcal disease.

In the last decade, between 700 and 1300 cases of meningococcal disease have been reported each year in the United Kingdom.

Between 5% and 10% of cases lead to death.

Among those who survive, 10% to 15% can end up with serious and disabling sequelae such as loss of hearing and vision, brain damage and damage to major organs or loss of limbs.

What do doctors and government say?

The government in England says that it has already taken action. A task force created by the ministers made a number of recommendations to improve care, including that they should be recorded in patient notes when information on safety nets was provided.

The NHS is still implementing the recommendations.

The Royal College of General Practitioners also said it has made the issue a top priority in recent years. He produced a toolkit to help general practitioners manage and identify cases.

Helen Stokes-Lampard, President of the Royal College of GPs, says, "Doctors know very well that meningitis and any form of sepsis can lead to serious complications and in some cases be fatal if they are not recognized and treated. timely.

"But the challenge for all clinicians is that the initial symptoms often come in the same way as common viral diseases such as influenza, making both conditions very difficult to detect in the early stages of the disease.

"GPs are on permanent alert about the signs of meningitis in their patients and we discuss with parents of babies and young children what to watch for, which could indicate that a disease could progress to a much greater disease. serious."