Legacy of meningitis harming children

A THIRD of children who survive meningitis will be left with “devastating” long-term conditions, new research suggests.

One in three youngsters treated for the disease will suffer after-effects including mental health problems, epilepsy and learning difficulties, a study by University College London (UCL) found.

One in five children will have anxiety or behavioural disorders, while young survivors are five times more likely to have speech and communication problems, researchers said.

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The disease also impacted on long and short-term memory, with some children left with a borderline low IQ.

Sufferers were five times more likely to have a significant hearing impairment, with 2.4 per cent of survivors having bilateral hearing loss which required a cochlear implant. The risk of amputation was also increased, the study said.

Sue Davie, chief executive of the Meningitis Trust, which commissioned the study, said: “The hidden, yet devastating after-effects of meningitis can often be dismissed. We hope the new findings will encourage education and health professionals to recognise these, as well as the noticeable physical after-effects, and push for children to receive the support they need and deserve.

“We hope parents will feel more empowered by these findings. They need to be confident when advising professionals that their child might be suffering from after-effects of meningitis in order to change perceptions and ensure meningitis is fully investigated as a possible cause.”

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The study, the first of its kind, looked at the effects of meningococcal group B disease (MenB), the UK’s most common type of bacterial meningitis.

The research involved more than 570 children in England over a three-year period and the sample included 245 children who suffered meningococcal group B disease three years earlier, when they were aged between one month and 13 years.

About 3,400 new cases of bacterial meningitis are diagnosed in the UK each year – half of them in children. Under-fives, 15 to 24-year-olds and over 55s are most at risk.

The Meningitis Trust’s campaign Meningitis Changes Futures calls for the automatic right for any child who has been treated for the disease to have regular assessments throughout their time in education.

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