It can be caused by many different organisms including bacteria, viruses and fungi.

Vaccination is the only way to prevent meningitis, but vaccines have not been developed for all types of the disease.

A life-threatening form is meningococcal disease, caused by meningoccocal bacteria. It can trigger both meningitis and septicaemia (blood poisoning), which can occur individually or, more commonly, together.

Meningococcal disease can strike at any age, but most often occurs in babies, young children, and young adults. It requires quick treatment as around seven per cent of cases will result in death and 15 per cent will lead to disabling after-effects.

Pneumococcal meningitis is also life-threatening and usually occurs in babies and young children under 18 months. Again, most sufferers make a good recovery with speedy medical attention, but 20 per cent of cases end in death and 25 per cent in severe after-effects.

Viral meningitis is usually more mild. Other types include neonatal meningitis, which affects new-born babies, and fungal meningitis, which can be contracted when the immune system is run down by another disease.

Related: Daniel Sibley has died from meningitis just days after coming home from university for the holidays.
Helping to save other families from heartache
WHILE grieving for their son, the parents of Daniel Sibley are determined to try and save other families from the same heartache.
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Dr Kate King, a health protection specialist with the Health Protection Agency in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said she usually sees two cases a month in her area, adding that there were only "one or two" deaths from the disease last year.

Dr King said: "The risk of death is around one in 10 people who catch the meningococcal infection, but people are getting recognised and treated successfully. A single case is not an outbreak. Our job is to make sure that everyone who has had close and prolonged contact with the individual is offered antibiotics."