Inserm researchers and pediatricians from Nantes and Grand-Ouest university hospitals are sounding the alarm about the consequences of severe bacterial infections (mainly meningitis) in children. In a study published in the journal Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, these researchers show over a period of 5 years, that 25% of the deaths and 25% of the serious ones occurring in children suffering from a severe bacterial infection could have been Avoided by simple application of the vaccination schedule.
For this study, the researchers examined the medical records of all children aged 1 month to 16 years, admitted to pediatric intensive care or died before their birth. admission due to a severe bacterial infection in the French Grand-Ouest, between 2009 and 2014. The infections were considered “theoretically preventable” when the child had not been vaccinated or had not received the boosters and that the bacterial strains identified in his body were targeted by the recommended vaccines at the time of the infection.
Only 39% of children properly vaccinated
Based on the results of this study, the meningococcus and pneumococcus are the main bacteria at the origin of severe infections in children (65%), responsible for 71% of deaths and almost half of cases of severe what serious. The anti-pneumococcal and anti-meningococcal C vaccines were introduced in the vaccination schedule in 2002 and 2009 but only 39% of children were correctly vaccinated against these bacteria.
Bacterial infections are common and are most often fought Using antibiotics. But some children or babies, more vulnerable to certain so-called severe infections (meningitis, purpura fulminans) can suffer from serious consequences (paralysis, sensory deficit – especially hearing loss -, hydrocephalus, pilepsy, amputation) or even die. However, doctors point out that while vaccines exist, “parents’ growing mistrust of vaccination leads more and more to the absence of a complete vaccination in some children and puts them at risk of serious injury or death case”. Thus, most meningococcus C deaths occurred in children over 2 years of age who had not had their catch-up vaccine.
Remember that vaccination against the two main bacteria responsible for these severe infections has become compulsoryfor all children born from January 1, 2018 but that children of 2 years old are not affected by this obligation. “This is why it is essential to apply the current remedial recommendations to them” insist the researchers.
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