A 16-year-old South East Essex College student was yesterday recovering at his Hadleigh home from a suspected case of meningitis.

The teenager, who is on the first year of a GNVQ advanced media course, was being treated in Southend Hospital for an unrelated illness last week when tests revealed suspected traces of the killer disease.

Lucy Davies, press and communications officer at the college in Carnarvon Road, Southend, said: "It was a complete stroke of luck he was there and could be treated.

"It is still a suspected case because it is not sure whether it would have developed into meningitis. Whatever it was, it was caught early."

To be on the safe side, students at the college have received a letter and close contacts of the boy have been given antibiotics.

Ms Davies said students at the college were well aware of the dangers of meningitis. Information was freely available from the student services department and posters and leaflets were displayed around the college.

Last week, Pitsea teenager Mitchell Kemp lost his fight against the disease, which is on the increase and has now reached its highest level for 50 years.

Promising footballer Mitchell, 14, a pupil at Appleton School, Benfleet, died within four hours of reaching Basildon Hospital. His funeral is being held at 10.30am today.

Another boy, who attends St Thomas More High School for Boys in Kenilworth Gardens, Westcliff, is recovering in Southend Hospital.

Both he and Mitchell were believed to be victims of the virulent C strain of the disease - the same form that is sweeping through Pontypridd in south Wales.

A spokesman for the Meningitis Research Foundation said the disease occurs in peaks and troughs, and the country is currently experiencing a peak.

In the first three weeks of this year there were 440 notifications of the disease, compared with 255 last year.

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