People with suspected meningitis or septicaemia need to be admitted to hospital immediately, wherever they are.
Bacterial meningitis
Urgent treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) is required. Intravenous antibiotics are used to treat the underlying infection, while life-support equipment and intravenous fluids are used to help support the body as it recovers.
Steroids may also be given as these can help reduce any swelling.
If the bacteria have also entered the blood, they can reduce toxins that kill healthy tissue. If the tissue damage is severe, the tissue will die and become gangrenous. Gangrenous tissue will need to be surgically removed. In the most severe cases, it may be necessary to amputate a whole body part, such as a finger, toe or limb.
Most people, if treated early enough, will make a partial recover within 10 to 14 days, though it may be several weeks or months before they recover fully.
Viral meningitis
If the symptoms of viral meningitis are severe enough to warrant an admission to hospital, it will be treated in the same way as bacterial meningitis until a diagnosis has been confirmed.
Once a diagnosis has been confirmed, the antibiotics will be withdrawn, though intravenous fluids will be continued to help support the body as it recovers.
However, most people with viral meningitis will not require hospital treatment and will recover within 14 days without the need for treatment.
Infection control
Most cases of meningitis are isolated and the risk of the infection spreading is low.
However, if somebody is thought particularly at risk of infection, such a young child who has spent a large amount of time in close contact with another child who developed bacterial meningitis, then they will be given a dose of antibiotics as a precautionary measure.