[Z]

I'm not really sure how to explain, but I was really ill yesterday and I have 3 symptoms of meningitis (feverish with chills, nausea and stiffness of neck) and I have a red mark on my leg, and I'm really frickin' worried about it; my mum was the one who suggested it could be meningitis. I really don't know what meningitis actually is, and that's after looking at the wikipedia entry, so could somebody please tell me what it's all about? Everything I've ever heard about it has ended along the lines of "amputation" which, as you can imagine, I'm not too keen on.