Tuesday 20 September 2011

Meningitis - your help required

Okay, so this isn't my usual type of blog post at all - but I need some help.
Next month I'm attending a forum, organised by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited, on  public perceptions of meningitis.  I've been asked if I could provide the opinions of my blog followers.  The survey follows and if you could spend a couple of minutes filling it in, I'd be very grateful.
If you have any thoughts or opinions, do feel free to share them with a comment.  I'd be really interested to hear. For obvious reasons, I won't give my own thoughts right now... :)



9 comments:

silentnovelist said...

My children are grown-up now but I know this is relevant to all ages because our dear babysitter Rosie died when she was 17, from Meningitis. All the different strains are confusing to me, so the more we can learn about it the better prepared we will be. Good luck. x

Zoë said...

I lost friends at college/uni to Meningitis, and I have a friend who lost her sister to it in her 40s. Its not just a childhood problem. Perhaps the focus should be wider than just children and infants.

Anonymous said...

Done.

Alison Cross said...

Done it *salutes smartly*

However, it was pneumonia that nearly carried off my son when he was only 3. Whatever illness it is your child develops, it's a god-awful lonely time for a parent.

Ali x

Rob-bear said...

Sorry, I'm not much help.
I don't live in Britain, and my children are in their late 30s.

Anonymous said...

In the US, the cases I knew about involved young soldiers in barracks, and college students in dorms--so clearly being young and otherwise healthy isn't protection enough, and crowded conditions may promote it. (I didn't fill out the form because I don't live in the UK, but I am glad you're doing this.}

Exmoorjane said...

Huge thanks to all of you who have helped so far...and thank you also for commenting...I really appreciate it. xxx

Isobel Morrell said...

Know this survey was directed towards parents of younger children: however, am a carer for my husband who developed meningitis (together with encephalitis) last year - and despite the attentions of 5 virologists at St. George's Tooting, the mystery of which type it was, remains! The disease was not as prevalent when we were young (we're both 71 this year), but with more young people seemingly affected, t'would appear it's definitely worth developing an efficacious vaccine so that children now don't face infection later in life, when defences are inevitably lower. Will be most interested in learning what you discover!

Jo Beaufoix said...

I felt kind of alarmed that I don't know if my kids are protected against all or just one strain of meningitis. It is a very scary thing though. Hope the forum is interesting and positive. x