The older you get, the more capable your body is of fighting off the infection.
Bacterial meningitis is fairly uncommon, but can be extremely serious.
It is fatal in one in 10 cases and one in 7 survivors is left with severe handicap, such as deafness or brain injury. The bacteria which cause both meningococcal and pneumococcal meningitis are very common and live naturally in the back of the nose and throat, or the upper respiratory tract. People of any age can carry these germs for days, weeks or months without becoming ill. In fact, being a carrier helps boost natural immunity to the disease. At any one time, around 10 to 25 per cent of the population are carriers.