Val Webb, proprietor of Ashford Play Nursery Schools in Kent, knows all too well how important it is to be aware of the symptoms of meningitis.
In 1999, staff and parents had a double shock when two of the nursery children contracted the life-threatening disease within weeks of each other.
'The first child to be diagnosed was Alex,' Val recalls. 'The staff noticed that Alex had a sore and bruised knee in the afternoon, and when his dad came to pick him up we told him to keep a close eye on him. An hour and a half later we had a call to say Alex had been admitted to hospital with suspected meningitis.'
Just two weeks later a second child, Emily, arrived at nursery with a rash from head to foot. Conscious of the recent scare, Val urged Emily's mother to take her straight to hospital - without delaying to perform the 'glass test' on the rash to check for meningococcal septicaemia.
Although the two cases were not thought to be linked, Val immediately contacted the Kent medical officer. Val offered to turn the nursery into a makeshift clinic so everyone who had come into contact with the two children could be vaccinated. The vaccine offers protection against one strain of bacterial meningitis, group C, which causes about 40 per cent of bacterial meningitis cases.
Val says, 'Opening up the nursery for the vaccinations was paramount in dispelling any panic and it allowed parents and children to get the information and reassurance they needed.'
The nursery handed out information packs from the Meningitis Trust, an international charity that offers services and support to those affected by the disease and funds research into life-saving treatments and vaccines.
Parents also received a wallet-sized card listing the key symptoms of the disease and the number of the Meningitis Trust's 24-hour helpline, which is staffed by specially-trained nurses.
'The card is absolutely great,' says Val. 'All our mums now carry it around with them and we hand out the Meningitis Trust information brochures to every new parent at the nursery. The experience of two children in my nursery having meningitis was traumatic and we have definitely learned about the importance of keeping parents alert to the symptoms.'
Fortunately both Alex and Emily went on to make a full recovery, but not everyone is so lucky. After-effects and complications can occur with both viral and bacterial meningitis.
The exact number of people experiencing after-effects is not known, but the Meningitis Trust estimates that 15 per cent of sufferers are left with serious disabilities such as brain damage, loss of sight and hearing, learning difficulties and tissue damage. In severe cases of tissue damage, fingers, toes and limbs may need to be amputated. Many more people will suffer a range of short-term or less serious problems, including tiredness, persistent head-aches, clumsiness and stiff joints.
Ashford Play Nursery Schools are now dedicated supporters of the Meningitis Trust through fundraising. They have taken part in two Toddle Waddles and raised almost 4,000.
* The Meningitis Trust 24-hour helpline can be contacted from the UK on 0845 6000 800 (calls charged at local rates), or the Republic of Ireland on 1800 523 196 (freephone). Alternatively, questions and concerns can be e-mailed to helpline@meningitis-trust.org.