A \u201cfit and well\u201d eight-week-old baby was hospitalised after contracting the deadly meningitis B variant despite having no rash.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Elise Wedderburn\u2019s baby, Coralie, contracted the deadly Meningitis B variant. Picture: SWNS<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Following a gruelling battle, 11-week-old Coralie is recovering at home.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The mum-of-six said: “It\u2019s been like a nightmare. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s really sunk in.<\/p>\n
“She had no symptoms at all. No rash, no temperature.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s scary to think what would have happened if we hadn\u2019t taken her to get checked.”<\/p>\n
Baby Coralie ” had a strange look in her eyes”. Picture: SWNS<\/p>\n
Coralie and her twin brother William were vaccinated against meningitis and other illnesses during their eight-week check-up on March 26.<\/p>\n
Elise noticed she was “under the weather” that night and the following day, but assumed it was normal and gave her Calpol.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“The next day (Saturday), she was the same but just had a strange look in her eyes,” Elise added.<\/p>\n
“She looked really scared. She was very pale and sleepy.<\/p>\n
“She was looking up at me, terrified, and something told me she wanted someone to help her.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Coralie and her twin brother William had both been vaccinated against meningitis. Picture: SWNS<\/p>\n
Symptoms for meningococcal disease, which can cause meningitis, include rashes, fever, vomiting and severe headaches.<\/p>\n
Coralie’s temperature was fine, and she had “no symptoms” but Elise had a “gut feeling” that “something wasn’t right”.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
Dad Stewart, 45, took Coralie to a walk-in urgent treatment centre at Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital the same day.<\/p>\n
After a heel prick test flagged problems, medics called an ambulance to take her to QEQM in Margate.<\/p>\n
Arriving at A&E, she had to spend three hours in a resuscitation bay receiving fluids and IV antibiotics while she lost consciousness repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Coralie Wedderburn had just been for her eight-week check-up when she fell ill and was rushed to hospital. Picture: SWNS<\/p>\n
“You\u2019re just taking each second at a time,” Elise said.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“You just want to take it all away from her. She was surrounded by people at the bed.<\/p>\n
“She looked like a completely different baby.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Elise added that meningitis was the last thing they thought it could be.<\/p>\n
Elise Wedderburn with baby Coralie. Picture: SWNS<\/p>\n
On March 30, after a lumbar puncture, doctors confirmed Coralie had bacterial meningitis B.<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
The same day, after taking antibiotics, Coralie started to show signs of improvement.<\/p>\n
Elise added: “She started to look brighter. Every hour, I felt like I was seeing more light in her face.<\/p>\n
“From the Wednesday, they said, ‘we\u2019re going to try feeding her’ and she managed to take a little bit of milk from the bottle.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Margate’s QEQM Hospital<\/p>\n
She was discharged on Good Friday and is now recovering, but Elise has no idea how she picked up the infection.<\/p>\n
Elise said: “The week before, we didn\u2019t really go anywhere.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019d taken them out for walks in the pram, but the only people who had contact with her were family.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n