Meningitis and my child: Beth Egan's experience

Each year an estimated 500 Australians contract bacterial meningitis — a life-threatening illness. A number of bacteria cause meningitis, but pneumococcal and meningococcal bacteria are the most common causes and often affect infants, teenagers and the elderly.

While many Australian parents are generally aware of meningitis, recognising its symptoms in children can prove more challenging, a fact that Beth Egan learned the hard way when her youngest daughter Sophie contracted pneumococcal meningitis.

Sophie was 7 months old when we flew to Queensland for what was supposed to be a relaxing family holiday. We had barely unpacked when she developed a fever.

Sophie was typically a healthy baby so we were not initially alarmed and, suspecting a virus, gave her paracetamol as a precaution.

For the following 3 days, Sophie’s condition fluctuated. By day, she was fine – but at night the fever returned. On the fourth day, Sophie stopped feeding, developed an even higher temperature and began to vomit.

It became clear that Sophie was very ill so we made the decision to return home immediately.

We anxiously made our way from the airport to the hospital and by the time we arrived our normally lively baby was lying limp in my arms. She was whisked away for numerous tests. A lumbar puncture revealed she had pneumococcal meningitis. I knew about the dangers of meningitis, but never expected that one of my children would ever get it.

Sophie was admitted to hospital but was not out of the woods yet.

CAT scan

After a week of receiving high-dose antibiotics she had developed a weakness down her right side. A CAT Scan showed a build-up of pressure on her brain was causing the problem.

Doctors broke the news that Sophie required life-threatening surgery to relieve the pressure. We were terrified to learn that this involved drilling a hole into her tiny skull.

Thankfully the surgery was a success and 2 long weeks after she was admitted, we could finally take our baby home. Sophie has made a full recovery but the horrors of that fortnight will not be forgotten.

Preventing pneumococcal meningitis

Sophie's brush with pneumococcal meningitis prompted us to vaccinate our 3 older children against the disease.

We were fortunate that Sophie was diagnosed and received treatment before any long-term damage was done to her brain or her hearing. Others aren’t always so lucky because the symptoms of meningitis can be difficult to recognise.

Pneumococcal meningitis can have devastating results. After seeing first hand the impact the disease had on our daughter, I would encourage any parent to take steps to help prevent this happening to their child.