Meningitis can leave its severe impact on children, even after successful treatment, researchers say.
Investigators from the UCL Institute of Child Health found one in three children who survived meningococcal group B disease (MenB), one of the most common types of bacterial meningitis experiencing mental health and learning difficulties.
Meningitis is the inflammation of the meninges in the brain. The disease is caused by bacteria or virus. Bacterial meningitis can be deadly if not given the proper treatment. Viral meningitis or aspetic meningitis is common and has similar symptoms of common flu.
Professor Russell Viner and colleagues examined the physical and neurological threats the disease Men B posed to young children, around three years. Majority of the children who had Men B were found to have some mental health problems and one in five were found to display anxiety or behavioral disorders.
Another significant side effect was memory. The disease affected both long and short term memory and in some cases left the victim at the grip of epilepsy. Children affected with the disease also were found facing some learning problems.
They were more likely to face speech and communication problems, and it also affected their ability to plan and organize later, investigators said. The disease was also found leaving some physical impact on the patients. The sufferers were found five times more likely to have hearing impairment- 2.4 percent of survivors reported hearing loss that required the implanting of cochlear implant (CI).
The investigators expect their findings to help parents and health experts.
"The hidden, yet devastating, after-effects of meningitis can often be dismissed," Sue Davie, Chief Executive of the Meningitis Trust, said in a news release. "We hope that the new findings will encourage education and health professionals to recognise these, as well as the noticeable physical after-effects of meningitis, and push for children to receive the support they need and deserve.
"In addition, we hope that parents will feel more empowered by these findings. They need to be confident when advising professionals that their child might be suffering from the after-effects of meningitis in order to change perceptions, and ensure meningitis is fully investigated as a possible cause."
Findings of the study have been published online in The Lancet Neurology.
