A MOTHER’S instinct told Amy Carson that something was very wrong with her baby boy.

Six-month-old Oscar was generally a happy baby, but one day he wouldn’t stop screaming.

The mother-of-one from West End took her baby to a walk-in medical centre and he was sent to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a viral infection and sent home.

But after he cried all night she took him back to the clinic, and he was admitted to hospital with meningitis.

“It was very frightening,” she says.

“I was devastated when the doctors said he had meningitis. It’s something you read about, something that happens to other people.

“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.”

Oscar was hospitalised for four weeks. During that time, Amy never left his side. It took about three weeks before she and her partner saw an improvement.

“There were times when I thought we would lose him as he got worse before he got better,” she says.

“During that time, I couldn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. I felt so helpless.”

Oscar had to have surgery to insert a line, used to take bloods, into his neck as his veins kept collapsing and when a scan showed that he had pericardial effusion – a build-up of fluid around his heart – he needed further surgery to drain it. It was then that he seemed to turn a corner in his recovery.

“Once they removed the fluid, he picked up straight away,” remembers Amy.

“When he first laughed again, we knew he would be OK. His father and I were there and we knew we had our little boy back.”

At the start of September, the world’s first comprehensive vaccination programme against meningococcal B (MenB) meningitis and septicaemia for babies was introduced to the UK’s meningitis programme.

Meanwhile, many parents of babies and children who will not be eligible for the vaccination because of their age continue to pay to have it done privately.

This follows the start of a recent meningococcal ACWY (Men ACWY) vaccination programme for 14 to 18-year-old schoolchildren and 19 to 25-year-olds starting university for the first time.

The programme for youngsters was prompted by the alarming rise of a deadly new strain of meningococcal W meningitis and septicaemia, identified by the Meningitis Research Foundation’s groundbreaking Meningococcus Genome Library.

The new vaccines join others against meningococcal C, Hib and pneumococcal meningitis and septicaemia in the UK immunisation programme.

Amy is keen for everyone to take up the free vaccinations.

“I know how devastating these diseases can be, so I would urge all who are eligible to make sure they get the vaccines. Oscar is one of the lucky ones, because he’s still here today. You just never think something like this is going to happen to you.”

Oscar is now a happy two-year-old and Amy has nothing but praise for the treatment Oscar had at Southampton General Hospital and the support she has had for the Meningitis Research Foundation.

“The staff at the hospital were fantastic and couldn’t do enough for me and my partner,” she says.

“I would say to all parents to get their children checked out immediately if they think something is wrong and not to leave hospital until they are 100 per cent sure their child doesn’t have meningitis.”

And she adds how important it is for people to be aware of the all the symptoms of meningitis, other than a rash.

“Oscar didn’t even have the rash – people think they just need to look for the rash but you don’t always get a rash with meningitis,” she says.

The UK leads the world in vaccinating against meningitis but it is important not to assume that because an adult or child has had all the vaccinations available they are immune to the disease.

Chris Head, MRF’s chief executive, says: “There are still some forms of the disease which are not covered by these vaccines so it is vital that people are still aware of the symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia.”

l For any questions about meningitis, septicaemia and vaccination against the diseases, call MRF’s freephone helpline on 080 8800 3344 or visit: meningitis.org.