The little girl was the first of five to fall ill in the largest outbreak of highly-contagious strain C meningitis doctors in East Sussex have ever seen.

Despite attempts to save her the tot died within hours of falling ill.

She showed no symptoms of the killer bug until just before she died and today her parents, from Brighton, pleaded with other mums and dads to stay alert.

The girl's 28-year-old mum said: "Each parent knows their own child. If they have any instinct at all that something's not right, get it checked out.

"It doesn't matter if you're worried about being thought of as paranoid parents. Get advice."

She spoke about the tragedy as it was revealed more than 400 people are now being vaccinated against the disease in the light of further cases.

Amother and her child were taken to hospital at the weekend when both went down with suspected meningitis.

The youngster attends the Brighton Health Care NHS Trust nursery in Abbey Road, Brighton, but the woman's other child goes to Brighton's Sunshine Nursery, where the two-year-old who died also went.

Another child from the nursery and another parent connected with it are still in hospital.

East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority says the five cases are linked in the largest outbreak of strain C they have dealt with.

The "bright and bubbly" tot who died was just weeks away from her third birthday and had been happy and full of energy in the days before meningitis struck.

On the weekend before she died the family spent a fun day on the Palace Pier, where the little girl had been greeting passers-by with the words "Hiya, mate".

But on the Monday morning she started vomiting and her dad called the doctor. At first a stomach bug was suspected.

Her mum said: "I knew what to look for with meningitis but she was not affected by bright lights, her neck wasn't stiff and there was no rash. She had lots of fluid and even managed to keep down a piece of toast."

The child spent the afternoon watching her favourite Bugs Bunny videos before falling asleep on the sofa.Around 10pm she woke and had a shaking fit.

Her family called an ambulance, and on the way to hospital the youngster developed a telltale rash like tiny pinpricks. She was taken to intensive care, then transferred to Guy's Hospital, London.

Her mum said: "When the doctor said they'd been resuscitating her for 40 minutes and were going to try for another five, I knew that was it.

"They had done their very best but the septicaemia had done too much damage. It was a total shock, it just came out of nowhere. Life will never be the same again."

TWO STUDENTS are being treated for unrelated cases of the disease. One is from Eastbourne College of Art and Technology, the other from Hastings College of Arts and Technology.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.