‘I got the last rites’: Claire Byrne on surviving meningitis as outbreak reported in UK

Claire Byrne recalls nearly dying from meningitis as UK outbreak raises concerns. Picture: Andres Poveda

Newstalk host Claire Byrne has revealed she nearly died after contracting bacterial meningitis at the age of 14, as health officials monitor an outbreak in the UK.

Her story comes amid an outbreak in the UK, where two people have died and suspected and confirmed cases have risen to 29.

More than 8,500 courses of antibiotics and 1,600 vaccines have been administered to eligible people in Kent amid the outbreak.

Meningococcal disease can cause a number of serious illnesses, including meningitis — inflammation of the lining of the brain — and septicaemia, commonly known as blood poisoning.

The presenter said she was given the last rites after spending a month in hospital.

Even though the incident happened a "long time ago", Ms Byrne said she could remember it very well.

"I was unwell for a couple of days," she told Newstalk Breakfast on Friday.

"This was January 1990. I had whooping cough in the lead-up to Christmas, so I think my immune system was kind of shot. Coming into January, then, feeling unwell, but then there was this intense, indescribable headache during my English prose class in school. 

"I remember it coming up to lunchtime and the words start to move on the page," Ms Byrne recalled. 

She said that, in hindsight, it was the lining of her brain swelling.

Ms Byrne said she told her teachers she needed to go home. Her father collected her, and her mother put her to bed. Her doctor was also called, but he had been delayed due to a severe flu outbreak at the time.

While waiting for the doctor, Ms Byrne's mother was speaking to a friend and, out of nowhere, said: "I think Claire has meningitis." 

"Now, she says she didn't really know what meningitis was, but it just popped into her head. So she obviously had an awareness of it," the presenter said. 

"She saw how sick I was, and she knew, you know, parents' instinct. There was something badly wrong here. So the doctor was delayed coming out to me, which was a good thing, because when he did get to me, I was sick enough for him to realise that this was probably meningitis. But I wasn't sick enough for it to be too late. So I didn't have a rash, which indicates sepsis," she added. 

Ms Byrne said she remembered collapsing after the doctor asked her to stand up, and an ambulance was then called. She was taken to hospital, where doctors carried out a series of tests, including a lumbar puncture.

"I then got very sick on Thursday night. Really, really sick," she said, "I got the last rites from the priest who was in the hospital." 

"I remember seeing my parents kneeling beside the bed, and I remember the oils going on my forehead. I remember the words being spoken. 

"But I was so sick that I wasn't alert enough to be scared. You know, I was very much at peace with it. I was also hallucinating. 

"I saw frogs in the sink. I saw a picture of my family up on the wall at the hospital, which didn't exist. Now, whether that was me going down the tunnel or just hallucinating, I don't know." 

Ms Byrne said she was tired for two years after contracting meningitis but said she was "extremely lucky" not to have suffered hearing loss, sight loss, brain damage, or limb loss.

John Cuddihy, HSE national director for public health, said there is “no evidence of an increase” of the illness in Ireland and “currently no indication of links between any cases in Ireland and the outbreak reported in Kent”.

He said there have been 12 cases of meningococcal disease reported in Ireland so far this year, with no deaths.

There are vaccines against types A, B, C, W, and Y.

Dr Cuddihy said: “Routine surveillance in Ireland continues to show that meningococcal disease remains a rare but serious infection, with sporadic cases occurring each year.” 

The HSE has warned that symptoms include fever, severe headache, vomiting, rapid breathing, cold hands and feet, drowsiness, or a rash that does not fade under pressure.

But said: “Do not wait for a rash. If someone is ill and getting worse, get medical help immediately.

“Call 112 or 999 for an ambulance immediately or go to your nearest emergency department.”

He added that the illness can affect people of any age but is most common in babies and young children, and to a lesser extent, teenagers and young adults. It is also more common in winter and early spring.