Meningitis symptoms usually start suddenly and can become life-threatening within hours, so any suspicion should be treated as an emergency and checked by a doctor or emergency service immediately.

Key meningitis symptoms (older children, teens, adults)

Common symptoms that often appear together:

  • Sudden high fever (feeling very hot, shivery, unwell).
  • Severe headache, often worse than a usual headache.
  • Stiff neck – finding it painful or very hard to bend your neck forward.
  • Feeling or being sick (nausea, vomiting).
  • Dislike of bright lights (photophobia).
  • Feeling confused, delirious or not making sense.
  • Extreme sleepiness, difficult to wake, or unresponsiveness.
  • Seizures or fits.

Rash and “glass test”

A classic sign with some types (especially meningococcal meningitis/sepsis):

  • Rash of red, purple, or “bruise‑like” spots that do not fade when you press a clear glass over them (the glass test).
  • On darker skin, the rash may be easier to see on the palms, soles, inside eyelids or roof of the mouth.

If you see a non‑fading rash plus fever or feeling very unwell, call emergency services immediately.

Early and general warning signs

Early meningitis or meningococcal sepsis can look like flu or a bad viral illness, but tends to get worse very fast.

Early signs can include:

  • Fever, shivering.
  • Severe limb or joint pains, muscle aches.
  • Cold hands and feet, even with a high temperature.
  • Pale, mottled, or blotchy skin, sometimes turning blue or grey.
  • Fast breathing or breathlessness.
  • General feeling of being “seriously wrong” or very unwell.

These early features can appear before neck stiffness or rash, especially in meningococcal disease.

Symptoms in babies and young children

Symptoms can be different and less obvious in babies, so you should seek urgent medical help if you see a combination of these:

  • Fever (or sometimes low temperature).
  • Refusing feeds, poor feeding, vomiting.
  • Very sleepy, floppy or hard to wake, or unusually stiff with jerky movements.
  • High‑pitched or moaning cry, irritability when picked up, not wanting to be handled.
  • Fast or unusual breathing, grunting sounds.
  • Bulging soft spot on the head (fontanelle).
  • Skin that is pale, blotchy, blue or with spots/rash that do not fade under a glass.

Because signs are subtle, any baby who is getting rapidly worse, harder to wake, or “just not right” should be seen urgently.

When to seek emergency help

Call emergency services or go straight to an emergency department if you or someone else has:

  • Fever plus severe headache, stiff neck, or confusion.
  • Fever plus a rash that does not fade with the glass test.
  • Sudden severe illness with cold hands/feet, very pale or blotchy skin, or breathing quickly.
  • Seizures, loss of consciousness, or being very hard to wake.

Meningitis, especially bacterial, can worsen over hours and can be fatal or cause permanent damage without fast treatment, so it is better to overreact than to wait.

Important note

This information cannot diagnose you and is not a substitute for a doctor.
If you are worried that you or someone else might have meningitis, seek urgent in‑person medical care or call your local emergency number now.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.