“Mommy, my neck hurts.”

“Mommy, my neck hurts.”

Those words struck panic into my heart when my then two year-old daughter, who was running a fever and generally feeling yucky first uttered them. Because the first thing I thought when I heard the words “my neck hurts” was “oh my god: MENINGITIS.”

As it turns out, we were lucky. “My neck hurts” turned out to be a toddler’s way of saying “I have a sore throat”, which I was able to ascertain after clarifying (several times) that it was the inside part of her neck that hurt, in other words, her throat.

I used to take that story lightly – I even thought it was kind of cute. But after learning a little bit more about meningitis, its severity and – this is the scariest part – the speed at wich it can kill or cause serious illness, I don’t take it lightly anymore.

Here are the facts:

• Meningitis is a medical emergency.
• Untreated, meningitis can be fatal within a few hours.
• Survivors can experience severe consequences, including varying degrees of deafness, blindness, paralysis and mental retardation.

So. Meningitis is a medical emergency – I knew that. And yes, a stiff or sore neck is one of the symptoms, as is a sudden, severe fever. I knew that too. But there are other important facts to be aware of:

• There are three strains of meningitis: viral (the most common and less serious), bacterial (caused by the meningococcal bacterium, this is the most serious form of the disease) and fungal (a rare but serious form of meningitis that occurs most often in people whose immune systems are weakened).
• Meningitis symptoms are similar, whatever the cause of the disease. They include:
  • sudden, high fever,
  • drowsiness or confusion,
  • severe, unrelenting headache,
  • stiff neck,
  • intolerance to bright light and sound,
  • nausea/vomiting,
  • twitching, convulsions, delirium particularly in children,
  • a rash of small, irregular purple or red spots all over the body may indicate meningococcal meningitis.

Like a cold or flu, meningitis spreads through close contact with others. Coughing, sneezing, close physical contact, kissing or sharing eating utensils could spread the disease – sounds like a typical day in most families!

Take a look at this video below about a remarkable young man who survived bacterial meningitis. It truly is an inspiring story.