Meningitis Awareness Week is being held from 16-22 September 2013. The week's timing coincides with an increase in meningitis and septicaemia as we move into autumn and winter.
A Plymouth mother has added her voice to calls for a vaccine to be introduced to combat the potentially deadly form of meninigtis. Anna Bolt's daughter was just 6 years old when she contracted bacterial meningitis - or Meningitis B - earlier this year.
The disease can be difficult to diagnose with symptoms ranging from a headache and stiff neck to vomiting, fever, a dislike of bright lights and a rash. Every week, six families in the UK lose a loved one because of it. Jeff Welch reports.
Anna and daughter Lily Credit: ITV News West Country
As part of Meningitis Awareness Week, a West Country mum has been talking about her first hand experience of the disease. Anna Bolt's daughter Lily was just six when she contracted bacterial meningitis earlier this year.
It can strike without warning, killing one in ten, and leaving a quarter of survivors with life altering after effects. Fortunately her daughter has now made a full recovery.
