The young woman, who works at McDonald’s in the historic city, had visited the Club Chemistry nightclub on Thursday.

She has since been diagnosed with meningitis B, a bacterial form not covered by the standard teenage vaccination programme.

“I never, in a million trillion years, ever thought it would be this. Never,” mother-of-six Khali told The Sun.

Keeleigh had only told her mother she was feeling unwell six hours before she was rushed to hospital.

“She was very very hot, then very cold, she had an almighty bad headache and was being sick,” Khali said.

The mother initially suspected Covid and told her daughter to rest.

“Then she said her body was stiff – but again, I never thought meningitis could be an option, because she’d had all her vaccinations,” Khali explained.

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The meningitis B vaccine was not introduced until 2015, meaning Keeleigh missed the immunisation programme.

A housemate discovered her and called an ambulance, which Khali credits with saving her daughter’s life.

Keeleigh remains in isolation but is improving, having finally manged to eat a banana after several days.

Her body remains very sore, though her headache has finally begun to ease, her mother said.

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“She’s said she can’t see herself ever going out again. It’s absolutely frightened the life out of her,” Khali said.

Her mother believes vape-sharing played a role in the infection.

“She did say that one of her friends also has sort of the same symptoms, obviously not as bad, but they’ve been sharing a vape,” Khali explained.

“I think sharing vapes is a major way of it being passed.”

Health authorities do not list vaping as a recognised transmission route for meningitis.

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But Professor Andrew Preston, an expert in microbial pathogenicity at the University of Bath, admitted transmission could occur through sharing a vape in the same way it might from sharing utensils or cups.

He speculated that vaping itself might weaken the blood-brain barrier, allowing bacteria to cross into the protective membranes surrounding the brain.

“But that number of cases, if they’ve all come from a nightclub, then something has happened,” Prof Preston said.

Louise Jones-Roberts, the owner of Club Chemistry, said more than 2,000 people would have visited the club over March 5, 6 and 7 who now need tracing for antibiotics.

She said she had been told earlier that one confirmed case of meningitis had been linked to the club last weekend, but the dates had now been confirmed as being linked to the weekend of March 5-7.

She said: “I’ve been told they started showing symptoms on March 10.

“I wouldn’t have opened this weekend if I’d known, but I didn’t know. I’m worried about another potential outbreak from this weekend.”

Ms Jones-Roberts said she had managed to contact around 90 out of 95 members of staff at the club and they had gone to get antibiotics.

She added: “I’m devastated for the families affected. It’s so incredibly sad. I just really hope people know the symptoms and no more lives are lost.”

She said the club would remain closed until further notice, adding: “It is not a hard decision to close – we are talking about people’s lives.”