Two years ago Pauline Murray was diagnosed with encephalitis. But like many Scots she did not know what the disease was, or even the seriousness of its consequences.

The 46-year-old intensive care unit nurse started to feel unwell and visited her doctor for a range of symptoms she deemed out of character.

She experienced changes in her behaviour, feelings of nausea and a tingling sensation down her arm.

Although Ms Murray admits she was lucky to have fellow medical professionals to seek help and advice from, the encephalitis diagnosis didn't come until after an MRI scan and subsequent test.

It revealed her immune system was attacking her brain which led to her spending four weeks in hospital before another nine months going through therapy.

She told STV news: "When I was having therapy I was having seizures at the time and I was fully aware of them - it was quite disturbing for me to experience.

"I was never frightened about being unwell, I always felt confident within the medical staff, family and friends that I would recover from this.

"I've always had a positive attitude to it and I think that's what's helped me make a good recovery.

"Not everybody has been as lucky but I believe I'm fortunate in the fact I have been able to have a quick diagnosis, though frustrating, and having quick treatment."

Wednesday marks only the fourth World Encephalitis Day as more and more survivors attempt to raise awareness for the condition which can result in disability or even death.

Encephalitis can be caused by common viral infections; a problem with the immune system where it mistakenly attacks the brain; bacterial or fungal infections; or even bites from certain kinds of mosquitoes, tics and rabid animals.

Figures from YouGov claim three in five Scots do not even know what the disease is, with nearly half (49%) not realising it can be life threatening.

The symptoms faced by Ms Murray are faced by the 6000 others diagnosed with encephalitis every year in Britain. While many go along the same treatment, three in ten still fail to beat the illness.

Ms Murray's experiences have led her to continue campaigning for more to be done about the illness as well as setting her own personal goals.

As well as wanting to lose weight gained by steroids in her treatment she is planning to run a 10k in her hometown to raise money as well as awareness.

And the nurse knows it is a step she might not have been able to take had the treatment gone differently.

She said: "I feel very lucky and privileged I have been able to make a good recovery and I'm in this position to raise awareness for other people who are going or potentially going through this process.

"Not for one second did I ever think I had encephalitis, I just knew I had something wrong and I wanted to find out what, get treated and get better.

"The awareness for encephalitis was quite surprising for me and on my journey I realised people weren't as aware of it. My own learning has increased with the many variations of it as well.

"Because it was an autoimmune classification of the disease, it is unknown why people have them. There is no one definitive cause."