The Mid-Western Health Board is starting a winter awareness campaign against meningitis. The board's director of public health, Dr Kevin Kelleher, said the board's catchment area has the lowest levels of the disease in the State. But he warned parents about the dangers of meningitis, which is at its worst during the winter months.
He described the symptoms as including fever, vomiting, severe headache, neck stiffness and joint pains, a dislike of bright lights and drowsiness or coma.