'Lucky to be alive' meningitis survivor shares warning

A former student who is "lucky to be alive" after contracting meningitis said she had "never really heard" of the disease before being struck down by it. Ella Moulsdale, from Gloucester, was in her first year at Bath Spa University in 2021, when she was rushed to hospital in the back of an out-of-hours doctor's car because the "ambulance wait was too long". Diagnosed with meningococcal B septicaemia, she is now urging people to be aware of "what to look out for" following an outbreak of the illness which has left two people dead in Kent. She said: "I was deteriorating pretty rapidly. If it had been left any longer, it would have been a very different story." Live: Five new cases of meningitis are found in Kent, the UK Health Security Agency confirms The symptoms of meningitis include a high fever with cold hands and feet, agitation, confusion, vomiting and headaches. Moulsdale said she felt tired and "really sick" with a headache but was too ill to notice the "classic" meningitis rash of spots. "My ears felt like I was in a tin can," she said. "I couldn't hear anything and I had double vision." It was two days before one of her friends realised how serious it was and phoned NHS 111