MESSAGES of hope about meningitis came in two forms yesterday.
Skater Sinead Kerr, 20, who cheated death by minutes after being struck down by the disease when she was eight, is aiming for Olympic gold in 2002.
By that time a new vaccine that could save the lives of thousands of babies might be widely available.
Kerr and her skating partner, Jamie Ferguson 21, look set to reach the top in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The pair, Scotland's only full-time ice dancers, practise for five hours a day at Murrayfield Ice Rink in Edinburgh.
At her home in Livingston, West Lothian, Kerr said: ''My case shows meningitis is not only survivable - it can have a happy ending. It was extremely touch and go with me yet I went on to have a normal childhood and a full-time skating career.''
It took two days before her mother, Maeve, recognised the symptoms. When doctors at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary examined the critically ill girl they found she was suffering from the meningococcal strain of meningitis and only 30 minutes from death.
Mrs Kerr said: ''After watching Sinead suffer two days and nights of terrifying hallucinations I realised this was no ordinary flu.'' The new vaccine, in its final trial stage, is expected to protect babies against the disease. Babies in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, and Fife are taking part in a study of its effectiveness.
The jag protects babies against the C-strain of the disease and it is set to be given as a routine injection to newborns by 2001. Experts said yesterday that it would cut the number of cases of meningitis in half as soon as it is introduced.
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