A “fit and well” eight-week-old baby was hospitalised after contracting the deadly meningitis B variant despite having no rash.
Coralie Wedderburn had just been for her eight-week check-up when she fell ill and was rushed to hospital by mum Elise from Herne Bay.
Elise Wedderburn’s baby, Coralie, contracted the deadly Meningitis B variant. Picture: SWNS
By the time they arrived at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate, she was slipping in and out of consciousness, while her parents feared the worst.
Following a gruelling battle, 11-week-old Coralie is recovering at home.
NHS worker Elise, 40, wondered whether her daughter’s illness was linked to last month’s Canterbury outbreak – but there is understood to have been no connection.
The mum-of-six said: “It’s been like a nightmare. I don’t think it’s really sunk in.
“She had no symptoms at all. No rash, no temperature.
“It’s scary to think what would have happened if we hadn’t taken her to get checked.”
Baby Coralie ” had a strange look in her eyes”. Picture: SWNS
Coralie and her twin brother William were vaccinated against meningitis and other illnesses during their eight-week check-up on March 26.
Elise noticed she was “under the weather” that night and the following day, but assumed it was normal and gave her Calpol.
Alarm bells only started to ring when Elise got up to feed the twins during the night, and Coralie only drank half her bottle of milk.
“The next day (Saturday), she was the same but just had a strange look in her eyes,” Elise added.
“She looked really scared. She was very pale and sleepy.
“She was looking up at me, terrified, and something told me she wanted someone to help her.”
Coralie and her twin brother William had both been vaccinated against meningitis. Picture: SWNS
Symptoms for meningococcal disease, which can cause meningitis, include rashes, fever, vomiting and severe headaches.
Coralie’s temperature was fine, and she had “no symptoms” but Elise had a “gut feeling” that “something wasn’t right”.
“I had no idea what it was, but because she had had the vaccinations two days before, I was keeping a close eye on her,” she said.
Dad Stewart, 45, took Coralie to a walk-in urgent treatment centre at Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital the same day.
After a heel prick test flagged problems, medics called an ambulance to take her to QEQM in Margate.
Arriving at A&E, she had to spend three hours in a resuscitation bay receiving fluids and IV antibiotics while she lost consciousness repeatedly.
Coralie Wedderburn had just been for her eight-week check-up when she fell ill and was rushed to hospital. Picture: SWNS
“You’re just taking each second at a time,” Elise said.
“Initially in the resus, I feared the worst. You could see the panic from the doctors and nurses, and obviously, working in a hospital myself, I know the signs.
“You just want to take it all away from her. She was surrounded by people at the bed.
“She looked like a completely different baby.”
Coralie underwent a CT scan and an X-ray while medics put her on three separate antibiotics and one antiviral medication while they searched for the cause of her illness.
Elise added that meningitis was the last thing they thought it could be.
Elise Wedderburn with baby Coralie. Picture: SWNS
On March 30, after a lumbar puncture, doctors confirmed Coralie had bacterial meningitis B.
Elise said: “When they told us it was meningitis, I was actually driving, and my husband told me to pull over and he told me. We were really shocked.”
The same day, after taking antibiotics, Coralie started to show signs of improvement.
Elise added: “She started to look brighter. Every hour, I felt like I was seeing more light in her face.
“From the Wednesday, they said, ‘we’re going to try feeding her’ and she managed to take a little bit of milk from the bottle.”
Coralie has since had an ultrasound scan on her head and is awaiting an MRI to “get a clearer picture” of her illness’s long-term effects.
Margate’s QEQM Hospital
She was discharged on Good Friday and is now recovering, but Elise has no idea how she picked up the infection.
Elise said: “The week before, we didn’t really go anywhere.
“I’d taken them out for walks in the pram, but the only people who had contact with her were family.”
It is understood Whole Genome Sequencing tests found no link between Coralie’s illness and the outbreak, which saw two young people lose their lives last month.
A 21-year-old University of Kent student and Juliette Kenny, an 18-year-old sixth former at a school in Faversham, died from meningitis after multiple people were infected in the Canterbury area.
The outbreak reportedly started at the Club Chemistry nightclub, with the first case identified on March 13.