According to the suggestions of British scientists, infants who experience meningitis may have to work much harder during their school years. The findings of the study were published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Meningitis, an infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord, may result in severe disability or even death.
The investigators from Imperial College London compared 461 teen students who experienced meningitis as infants with 289 students who never suffered this illness. According to BBC News, the scientists discovered that 25 per cent of the meningitis survivors did not pass a single national exam, in comparison to 6.6 percent of learners in the comparison group.
Moreover, the scientists discovered that nearly eight per cent of participants who survived meningitis attended special schools. That is almost four times the British national average.
"The negative consequences of infantile meningitis evidently extend into adulthood and severely affect educational achievements," the authors of the research wrote. "It is necessary that all cases of bacterial meningitis happening during the first year of life are followed up entirely so that children who require educational and other support are identified at a very early age."
