This Tuesday, January 29, 2019, a 5-year-old girl was transferred “in serious condition” to the intensive care unit of the Montpellier University Hospital. A resident of Gabian (north of Béziers), she suffers from meningitis.
When she was taken care of by the SAMU, the girl presented a symptom of “purpura fulminans”, that is to say a kind of giant bruise: this coloring of the skin (which can extend over a great deal). surface) is one of the most serious symptoms of meningococcal meningitis.
Meningococcal meningitis is inflammation of the meninges caused by infection with the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis. The main symptoms are fever, headache, vomiting, stiff neck, disturbance of consciousness and / or seizures.
Now taken care of in the pediatric department, the little girl “recovers well”, according to Christophe Garro, the head of the monitoring, alert and health management unit. at the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Occitanie.
“The risk of contamination is low” according to the ARS
The patient’s entourage (relatives, classmates, teachers, etc.) benefited from preventive antibiotic treatment but, according to Christophe Garro, it was not necessary to treat the places frequented by the girl. : “The risk of contamination is low, due to the fragility of the germ in the environment outside the human body. This relatively common germ is transmitted through the airways and, in rare cases only, passes into the blood and cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the meninges, causing meningitis ”.
Between January and May 2018, 30 cases of meningitis were reported to the Regional Health Agency throughout the Occitanie region.
The ARS recalls that “today, there is an effective vaccine against type C meningitis. This vaccine has been recommended since 2010 for people aged 12 months to 24 years. This vaccination is now compulsory for infants born since January 1, 2018 ”.
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