Improving early recognition of meningococcal disease in children.
Research archive
- Oxford University, Oxford, UK
- Researchers:
Diane McLeod, Dr Anthony Harnden, Dr Matthew Thompson, Dr Rafael Perera, Dr Richard Mayon-White, Sue Smith, Tanya Haj-Hassan
- Project Number: 0601.0
- Category: Detection
- Duration:
- Start Date: 01 January 2006
- Type: Lay summary
About half of children with meningococcal disease are initially misdiagnosed when they present to their GP. This may lead to delays in getting urgent hospital care and contribute to poor outcome. The challenge for GPs and others who provide first-contact care for children such as paramedics and A&E staff is that in the early stages of this disease, the typical features of meningitis or septicaemia (e.g. pinprick rash, neck stiffness) may not be present. Indeed there may be little to distinguish the child from one with a viral illness. Therefore, we need a better way of identifying children with possible meningococcal disease in the early few hours of the disease. Recent research funded by Meningitis Research Foundation found that three symptoms seem to be "early warning" signs for meningococcal disease in children. These are cold hands and feet, limb pain, and pale, mottled skin. This study will determine how frequently these features of early meningococcal disease occur in children with viral infections in primary care. This will be done by giving a questionnaire to parents when they attend their GP surgery with a child who has an infection. Parents will be asked to record whether their child has various symptoms, including the early meningococcal features and other symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia. The researchers will then be able to determine exactly how useful these symptoms are at predicting whether a child might have meningococcal disease when they go to their GP.