Wilson, from Crowborough, East Sussex, was three weeks into his first year at the University of Southampton when he contracted the illness, which saw him lose both legs, a hand and the fingers of his remaining hand.
Urging greater awareness of the symptoms of meningitis, he admitted to previously knowing little about the infection.
“They can put the posters up, but it doesn’t mean people are going to read them,” he said.
Asked to advise others, the 19-year-old stressed the importance of taking any suspected symptoms seriously.
“I don’t think people should be brushing stuff off. That’s what I did,” Wilson added.
His friend Toby Keary, who was with Wilson on the day he fell ill, said: “I think awareness of the symptoms of meningitis are a very big thing, because a lot of them are similar to fever.”