THE MOTHER of an Okehampton boy struck down by a potentially fatal strain of meningitis last week fears her family may be treated differently because of unnecessary concerns about contracting the disease.

Jane Bailey, who has been to 'hell and back' over the past week, said she did not want people to avoid her 10-year-old son, Neil, and other members of the family.

'Meningitis is every mother's nightmare but it is not something you can catch like a cold,' she said.

'I know parents are worried but they do not have to be — Neil wants more than anything to see all his friends again.'

Neil, a promising young footballer, started complaining of a headache and high temperature on Monday. Doctors were concerned enough to send him to hospital,but initial tests at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital did not indicate meningitis.

Although he had been sick and was drowsy, the over-riding pain was in his hip and abdomen and it was originally thought to be appendicitis.

'Neil must have been seen by 17 doctors from bone specialist to paediatricians, microbiologists and surgeons,' said Mrs Bailey. 'At one point his temperature started to go down and he seemed to be getting better.'

A meningitis scare five years earlier turned out to be a virus and Mrs Bailey said she thought tests would come up with the same result. It was not until an extremely high blood reading came back, that she realised it was serious.

'It was such a shock — my mind went into overdrive. I started thinking it could be leukaemia or cancer and when they told me it was meningococcal meningitis I just felt numb,' she said.

Neil was put in a high dependency unit and his parents kept a 24-hour vigil by his beside. Antibiotics were administered and Neil started to improve day by day.

'Neil may be small but he is very strong willed and there is no doubt that helped him get through it,' said his mother.

The youngster is now recovering at home and has to attend hospital for the next six days for antibiotics.

Within hours of meningitis being diagnosed, all the members of the youth football team, with whom Neil was playing the weekend before, and close contacts received antibiotics.

His mother has praised Dr Amanda Cox at Okehampton Medical Centre and all the staff at the Exeter hospital for their prompt and thorough care.

'There is no doubt they saved his life and I cannot thank them enough for that,' she said.

The ten-year-old had meningococcal meningitis type B, for which there is no vaccination at present. It can sometimes leave hearing or joint problems but most of the time victims make a full recovery.

Director of Public Health at the North and East Devon Health Authority Dr Mike Owen said there was no reason for people to stay away from Neil or any of his family.

Meningococcal meningitis is not contagious like the common cold or flu and it is not spread by casual contact or by simply breathing the air where a person with meningitis has been.

Dr Owen said meningitis was in the community all the time because people carried it without developing the disease.

'The disease is not that common,' he said. 'Unless someone has very close contacts with the sufferer the likelihood of it being passed on is very small indeed.

'The risk to friends and casual acquaintances is no greater than to anybody else in the community.'

As in the case of Neil, if symptoms of meningitis are spotted early there is every chance the sufferer will make a full recovery.

The symptoms are : A high temperature, a purplish-red rash which does not blanch on pressure, confusion or drowsiness, headache, dislike of the light, vomiting, neck stiffness and aches and pains in the muscles or joints.