Students are heading back to university and college this month as the new semester begins.
With so many people coming together at once, sickness and viruses can spread quickly at the beginning of term.
One to look out for is meningitis, especially if you haven't been vaccinated against it.
It can be common within the student population, so here's everything you need to know about the illness and how it spreads.
How do you catch meningitis?
Meningitis is caused by a viral or bacterial infection.
Viral meningitis is the most common and least serious, while bacterial meningitis is much more rare but can have very serious consequences.
According to the NHS website, meningitis typically spreads by coughing, sneezing and kissing.
This is because it is usually spread by those who carry the virus in their nose or throats but are not ill themselves.
What are the symptoms of meningitis?
Meningitis can cause symptoms such as:
- a high temperature
- cold hands and feet
- vomiting
- confusion
- breathing quickly
- muscle and joint pain
- pale, mottled or blotchy skin
- spots or a rash
- headache
- a stiff neck
- a dislike of bright lights
- being very sleepy or difficult to wake
- fits (seizures)
The infection can progress very rapidly, and in serious cases can have a life altering impact.
As a result, if you think you might have meningitis you should seek medical help quickly.
How can I protect myself against meningitis?
There are a number of vaccines which protect against meningitis, and children should receive most of these as part of the NHS vaccine schedule.
The vaccine that is particularly advised to fresher students heading to university and college is the Meningitis ACWY vaccine.
It offers protection against four types of bacteria which can cause meningitis and blood poisoning in the form of scepticaemia, which can be deadly if not treated quickly.
Most people receive it when they are around 14 in Scotland, and those who missed should be offered another chance to get the jab later on in their school careers.
However, if you haven't had the jab and are heading to university, you can still get it at your GP surgery.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here