Get up to speed with meningitis

She contracted the virus in her homeland of South Africa six years ago and suffered complications that left her blind.

It was a devastating blow to the then 24-year-old, who had to change her life completely.

Now living in Brighton, Miss Marks, 30, has not let her disability get to her and is studying a course in health sciences at City College.

She has previously worked as a masseuse and in reflexology.

Miss Marks said: "I don't remember a great deal about the whole thing. I had just started a new job when I started to feel unwell. At first, it just felt a bit like a cold but then it got worse and I had a day off work.

"I slept most of the day but then woke up with a chronic headache and stiff neck and couldn't get warm. I had also developed the distinctive rash.

"A nurse friend came over to see me and said I needed to go straight to hospital.

"I don't remember much after that because I eventually went into a coma. When I came out of it, I had become completely blind.

"It was obviously a tremendous shock as everything had been so sudden. But somehow I was able to get the strength together to get on with things and take each day as it came. I could not let it get me down.

"When you are young, you never think about being disabled but once it happens to you, it changes everything.

"I know just how devastating meningitis and septicaemia can be. Within a few short hours of first being unwell, I was in hospital fighting for my life.

"Because of meningitis, I will be blind for the rest of my life so I am urging everyone to be fully aware of the signs and dangers and get themselves checked out as soon as possible."

The Meningitis Research Foundation is running a campaign called Get Up To Speed With Meningitis and has sent flyers and posters to university and college students throughout the UK.

While most students will have had the vaccine protecting them against Group C meningitis and septicaemia, there are other major forms of these diseases which are not yet vaccine preventable.

About 12 per cent of young people who have contracted the diseases have died and many more have suffered the after-effects, which can be as serious as brain damage, deafness and amputations.

Information gathered from the foundation's free 24-hour helpline indicates the success of recent vaccination programmes has led many people to believe that meningitis and septicaemia are diseases of the past.

The statistics demonstrate this is far from true.

Over the past three years in the UK, there have been nearly 10,000 cases of meningitis and septicaemia, the blood poisoning form, with 1,200 resulting in death.

Denise Vaughan, the foundation's chief executive, said: "Meningitis and septicaemia are life-threatening diseases which can strike anyone of any age. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment give patients the best chance of a good recovery."

Meningococcal septicaemia, the more life threatening form of the disease, is a type of blood poisoning caused by the same bacteria that cause the most common form of bacterial meningitis.

Toxins are released which break down the walls of blood vessels, allowing blood to leak out under the skin.

This causes the telltale rash of red or brownish pinprick spots which develop into purple bruises, blood blisters or blood spots.

Meningitis bacteria are very common and live naturally in the back of the nose and throat. People of any age can carry the bacteria for days, weeks or months without becoming ill.

Occasionally, the bacteria overcome the body's defences and cause meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia.

Symptoms include severe headache, stiff neck, fever, vomiting, drowsiness, discomfort from bright lights, back and joint pains and rash which does not turn white when pressed.

For an information pack, call the Meningitis Research Foundation's 24-hour helpline on 080 8800 3344 or go to www.meningitis.org