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11th January 2006 Parents warned to look for earlier signs of meningitis Parents should be aware of the very early signs of meningitis, say doctors. Cold hands, severe leg pain and very pale skin can all be early warning signs, and researchers say could speed diagnosis and save lives. The traditional symptoms of meningitis are a red rash, headache, stiff neck, sensitivity to light and impaired consciousness. However, by the time these symptoms develop children may be as little as two hours away from becoming critically ill. Dr Matthew Thompson, of Oxford University, led a team investigating 448 children who contracted the most dangerous bacterial form of meningitis. Most had only non-specific symptoms in the first six hours, but were close to death 24 hours after infection. Classic symptoms developed late, after an average of 13 to 22 hours. However, 72 per cent of the children developed identifiable early sepsis symptoms within eight hours. At least four in 100,000 British children will become ill with bacterial meningitis, and in many cases, children are only admitted to hospital after their condition is initially misdiagnosed. Dr Thompson said, "These are all symptoms the parents themselves identified, often many months after their child's death or infection. "They are signs to give parents and doctors more warning signs." He added that children could exhibit these symptoms and not have meningococcal disease but stressed they should be checked out again. Dr Thompson said GPs in particular needed to move away from the 'traditional' signs. "We believe that primary-care clinicians are over-reliant on using these three symptoms to diagnose meningococcal disease in children. "Moreover, clinicians and parents may be falsely reassured by the absence of these features." Dr George Kassianos, spokesman for the Royal College of GPs, said, "Parental education about the early signs of meningococcal meningitis is very important. "Greater awareness of these early signs of the disease among primary care clinicians can save lives and prevent long-term disability in children." Early warning signs
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