Early symptoms of meningitis

I don't want to be a doom-and-gloom merchant, but as a friend almost lost her teenage daughter to this desease, because there was very little time between the onset of symptoms and her being critically ill in hospital, I thought it might be useful to post this link here - I saw it on the internet news today:

Here's the link: Meningitis warning signs

The 'classic' signs of meningitis are:

A rash which does not change colour or disappear when a glass is placed against it,
Headache,
A stiff neck
Sensitivity to light
These signs tend to take between 13 and 22 hours to develop. But they often appear just a couple of hours before children become critically ill.

The research found there were signs which appeared much earlier than the traditional symptoms - within the first eight hours. These were:

Severe leg pain - which is so bad the child cannot stand or walk
Cold hands or feet - when the child is running a fever
Pale skin, possibly blue around the lips.

Thanks Poppies, i have children. I was well aware of the symtoms for little one's but not teenagers. My son is 14. We also live in a very populated area where you never know what's around the corner..!