MENINGITIS is a deadly condition if it’s not caught quick enough and there is one sign you should look for that you probably aren’t, experts say.
Patients with the nasty infection often develop symptoms like a stiff neck, fever and vomiting, but they might also have a bad stomach ache.
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The pain can be so severe it is often mistaken for appendicitis, leaving patients facing unnecessary operations, experts from Institut Pasteur in France warned.
Some ten per cent of patients infected with meningococcal suffer from abdominal pain, their research suggests.
Lead author Muhamed-Kheir Taha, nead of the National Reference Center for Meningococci, said: “When doctors see patients suffering from stomach pain, invasive meningococcal disease doesn’t immediately spring to mind.
“They tend to think of gastroenteritis or possibly appendicitis.
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“But delays in diagnosis and appropriate treatment for those affected can be deadly.
“Invasive meningococcal disease is fatal in virtually all cases if antibiotics are not administered rapidly.”
Taha and his team analysed 12,000 strains of meningococcal and how the affected patients.
Some 105 cases presented with abdominal pain, gastroenteritis or diarrhoea.
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“That number represents just one per cent of patients, which is not very many, even if the real figure is probably higher since it is hard to know whether babies are suffering from stomach pains.
“But if we focus on the past two or three years and the group W bacterial strain, which arrived in Europe in 2013-2014 and has grown rapidly ever since, the figure rises to ten per cent of cases.”
MORE THAN A RASH What is meningitis, how do you get it, what are the symptoms and what is the meningitis B vaccine trial?
As the W strain of the infection becomes more prevalent people are more likely to suffer from abdominal pain when they fall ill.
“We should remember that the bacteria infect the vessels which supply blood to the abdomen and the digestive system,” Taha said.
“If these bacteria are likely to induce a stronger inflammatory response in tissues, that could explain the abdominal pains.”
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Meningitis can affect anyone, but is most common in babies, young children, teenagers and young adults.
It is the inflammation of the membranes that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord and can be caused by meningococcal bacteria and viral meningitis.
If it is not treated quickly, meningitis can cause life-threatening septicaemia (blood poisoning) and result in permanent damage to the brain or nerves.
What are the symptoms of meningitis?
The symptoms of meningitis develop suddenly and include:
- A high fever over 37.5 degrees – the average human temperature
- being sick
- a headache
- a blotchy rash that doesn’t fade when a glass is rolled over it
- stiffness, especially in the neck
- sensitivity to bright lights
- drowsiness, irritability or lack of energy
- cold hands and feet
- seizures
MORE ON MENINGITIS
The classic rash associated with meningitis usually looks like small, red pinpricks at first.
But it will spread over the body and turn into red or purple blotches.
If you press the side of a glass firmly against the skin where the rash is and it does not fade, it is a sign of blood poisoning and you should get medical help immediately.
The Meningitis Research Foundation has warned the symptoms can easily be mistaken for a hangover.
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