A 4-year-old girl died in a few days from meningitis. The Pasteur Institute is warning of an increase in contamination since the Covid-19 epidemic.
- A 4-year-old girl died of meningitis, a few days after developing the first symptoms.
- Meningitis can be of viral or bacterial origin.
- Since the Covid-19 epidemic, the Pasteur Institute has observed an increase in cases.
His condition deteriorated very quickly. Monday March 18, Lola, a 4-year-old girl, died of meningitis at the Bordeaux University Hospital. The first signs of infection appeared on Friday March 15. “First referred to a doctor at the end of the day, then admitted to the Mont-de-Marsan hospital, the little girl was then transferred to Bordeaux, given the worsening of her state of health.relates South West. According to daily information, the child died of meningitis caused by Haemophilus non B. and serotype F: the disease is believed to be of bacterial and not viral origin.
What is meningitis?
“Meningitis comes from an infection of the cerebrospinal fluid (fluid circulating between the meninges), generally due to a virus, underlines theHealth Insurance. In some cases, a bacteria, fungus or parasite may also be the cause..” This type of meningitis represents between 20 and 25% of meningitis contracted outside of hospitalization or a medical procedure in France. It can be caused by pneumococcus, meningococcus, listeria, bacteria E. Coli or by Haemophilus influenzae.
The disease first manifests itself as a local, respiratory or ENT infection. “Bacteria present in the nasopharynx can pass into the bloodstream, and possibly infect the cerebrospinal fluid.”, alerts the body. This will lead to inflammation of the meninges, the protective coverings of the brain and spinal cord, or meningitis. “Meningeal syndrome is then often associated with a serious infectious syndrome (dysfunction of organs and blood circulation).”, supplements Health Insurance. Bacterial meningitis is a medial emergency, she recalls. It requires rapid treatment.
Meningitis: an increase in cases in France since Covid-19
In recent years, the number of cases of meningitis has increased in France. “Thanks to the database of the National Reference Center for Meningococci, a team of scientists from the Pasteur Institute was able to trace the evolution of cases of meningococcal meningitis in France between 2015 and 2022 and highlight an unprecedented rebound in the disease after the end of the health measures put in place during the Covid-19 epidemic”announced thePastor Institute last November. Confinements and barrier gestures had enabled a reduction in contamination during the most critical moments of the Covid-19 epidemic. “This was the case for meningococcal meningitis, which saw its number of contaminations drop by more than 75% in 2020 and 2021., indicates the organization. But when these various measures were stopped, contaminations jumped: in the fall of 2023, the figures were higher than those recorded before the epidemic.
Faced with this observation, researchers at the Pasteur Institute recommend an expansion of the vaccination strategy. Today, only vaccination against meningococcus group C is compulsory, that against meningococcus B is recommended for infants. “If the tetravalent vaccine targeting meningococci of groups A, C, Y and W were recommended for adolescents, this would protect them directly, but also indirectly protect other categories of the population., estimates Ala-Eddine Deghmane, deputy head of the National Reference Center for Meningococci at the Pasteur Institute. Around one in three adolescents carry the disease without showing symptoms.
