A SOLDIER hospitalised by meningitis has been joined in the ward by his brother with his whole family needing treatment.

Sapper Ashley Hall, who lost both his legs and suffered other serious injuries in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, has contracted viral meningitis and is on a drip at Colchester General Hospital.

On Monday night he was rushed to hospital. By Tuesday night his 18-year-old brother Matt needed a hospital bed after contracting the illness.

His parents, and siblings Luke and Nathaniel, were also given antibiotics in hospital yesterday to prevent them contracting the illness and being hospitalised.

20-year-old Ashley, a former St Benedict’s College student in Colchester who lives in Stratford St Mary, had complained of headaches, bright lights, stiffness and headaches, which are all signs of meningitis, and 24 hours later Matt had similar symptoms.

However the family have been reassured it is viral meningitis rather than the more deadly bacterial form.