Early signs of meningitis

Painful legs, limbs are cold, skin color changes abnormally - these are the earliest symptoms of meningitis that appear within 12 hours after bacterial infection.

Think about meningitis when your child feels cold, hands and feet cold and tired.

The above signs come before there are classic symptoms such as headaches, rashes, stiff neck, photophobia and impaired consciousness - Dr. Matthew Thompson, Oxford University (UK), said.

Meningitis is a bacterial infection that occurs in the lining of the brain and spinal cord. The disease spreads from person to person through sneezing, coughing, kissing and often attacking apartment buildings and military barracks. About 5-10% of patients die, usually after 24-48 hours after symptoms appear. The World Health Organization says meningococcal patients should be treated with antibiotics.

If not detected and treated promptly, it can cause brain damage, hearing loss and cognitive ability."If young children are diagnosed early, they will limit the consequences," Thompson said.

The team identified the first group of symptoms of meningitis after analyzing data involving nearly 500 pediatric patients, including 103 deaths. The results showed that 72% of them had signs such as leg pain, cold limbs and skin color changes. Most have no symptoms for the first 4-6 hours, but are easy to die in the next 24 hours. The classic symptoms do not appear before 13-22 hours after bacterial infection. Half of the cases that were not detected in time by the doctor mistaking the culprit were common viruses.

My Linh (according to Reuters)