How do you know if you have meningitis? What is meningitis? What’s it caused by?

How do you catch it? How do you treat it? Can I stop myself getting it?

How do I stop myself getting meningitis?

Get a jab – if your school or college isn’t offering one, it should be. There are vaccinations against 3 types of meningitis. The sort for babies and young people stops them from getting types A and C meningococcal disease, which cause about 60% of meningococcal meningitis cases. Unfortunately there isn’t a vaccine against type B, which causes the other 40%, so make sure you know the signs. There is also a vaccination given to babies against haemophilus influenzae, because that sort more usually causes meningitis in babies. They all work pretty well though they are not always absolutely perfect.

You don’t need antibiotics if you just know someone who’s got meningitis. But you do need antibiotics if you live with them. If it happens in school, you don’t need to have antibiotics unless there’s been a real outbreak of it. You’re very unlikely to get it, but if you are worried, you can always go and talk to your family doctor about it.