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Source: http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=342912
Meningitis rare but deadly
2009/09/07
FEVER, chills, vomiting: It starts like a stomach bug or the flu. But bacterial meningitis can go on to kill terrifyingly fast ? one of the few infections in the US where someone can feel fine in the morning and be dead by night. And prime targets are children aged 11 to 19.
Amid all the publicity about children?s flu shots this year is quiet concern that vaccination against meningococcal meningitis will fall by the wayside, just as doctors are charting some progress against the rare but devastating infection.
In the two years since the US government recommended that every adolescent be vaccinated, close to 40 percent of tweens and teens are, said Dr Carol Baker, a paediatric vaccine specialist .
That?s a decent start considering parents seldom hear about the tough-to-pronounce illness. It affects only about 2000 Americans a year, with rates recently inching down to historic lows.
But about 15 percent of the people who catch this fast-moving germ die ? and one in five of the survivors suffers permanent disabilities including brain damage, deafness or amputated limbs.
Olga Pasick?s son David had just started Grade 8 in New Jersey, in 2004, when one Sunday evening he got a fever. Vomiting began late in the night. The next morning, the paediatrician took one look at the purplish rash forming on David?s chest ? infection spreading through his bloodstream ? and ordered him straight to the hospital.
?He was upset because he wanted to go to school,? recalls Pasick. Instead, hours later, the 13- year-old was dead.
Now Pasick has joined a campaign by the National Association of School Nurses to urge vaccination. ?It killed David within 24 hours of the first flu-like symptoms and he was a healthy kid.?
The nurses? Voices of Meningitis campaign is overshadowed by attention to the new swine flu and predictions of a busy influenza season in schools ? and yet opportune for the same reason. Baker, who?s not involved with the nurses? group, worries about an uptick in meningococcal infections this winter. That?s when the disease is most common anyway. Plus, a prior bout of flu can make you more susceptible.
?That is one of the bacteria that flu helps to invade through the mucus membranes of the nose,? Baker explains.
There are multiple types of meningitis, an infection of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord. Viral types tend not to be as severe. Babies and older adults are offered vaccine against two other bacterial types.
When it comes to the meningococcal form, 10percent of the population carries the bacteria harmlessly in their noses and throats. Carriers spread it by coughing, kissing and sharing drinking glasses ? particularly in crowded conditions such as dormitories where young people can encounter strains of the germ they?ve never been exposed to before.
Many colleges now require first years to be vaccinated, whether they?re dorm-dwellers or not.
That has shifted focus back to age 11, the time when the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting the shot, although children who missed it then can get one any time through the teen years.
The vaccine also is recommended for children from two to 10 or adults who are at high risk because of travel to countries where meningococcal disease is more rampant, such as parts of Africa and the Middle East, or because they have no spleen or some other immune-weakening conditions. ? Sapa-AP
Meningitis rare but deadly
2009/09/07
FEVER, chills, vomiting: It starts like a stomach bug or the flu. But bacterial meningitis can go on to kill terrifyingly fast ? one of the few infections in the US where someone can feel fine in the morning and be dead by night. And prime targets are children aged 11 to 19.
Amid all the publicity about children?s flu shots this year is quiet concern that vaccination against meningococcal meningitis will fall by the wayside, just as doctors are charting some progress against the rare but devastating infection.
In the two years since the US government recommended that every adolescent be vaccinated, close to 40 percent of tweens and teens are, said Dr Carol Baker, a paediatric vaccine specialist .
That?s a decent start considering parents seldom hear about the tough-to-pronounce illness. It affects only about 2000 Americans a year, with rates recently inching down to historic lows.
But about 15 percent of the people who catch this fast-moving germ die ? and one in five of the survivors suffers permanent disabilities including brain damage, deafness or amputated limbs.
Olga Pasick?s son David had just started Grade 8 in New Jersey, in 2004, when one Sunday evening he got a fever. Vomiting began late in the night. The next morning, the paediatrician took one look at the purplish rash forming on David?s chest ? infection spreading through his bloodstream ? and ordered him straight to the hospital.
?He was upset because he wanted to go to school,? recalls Pasick. Instead, hours later, the 13- year-old was dead.
Now Pasick has joined a campaign by the National Association of School Nurses to urge vaccination. ?It killed David within 24 hours of the first flu-like symptoms and he was a healthy kid.?
The nurses? Voices of Meningitis campaign is overshadowed by attention to the new swine flu and predictions of a busy influenza season in schools ? and yet opportune for the same reason. Baker, who?s not involved with the nurses? group, worries about an uptick in meningococcal infections this winter. That?s when the disease is most common anyway. Plus, a prior bout of flu can make you more susceptible.
?That is one of the bacteria that flu helps to invade through the mucus membranes of the nose,? Baker explains.
There are multiple types of meningitis, an infection of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord. Viral types tend not to be as severe. Babies and older adults are offered vaccine against two other bacterial types.
When it comes to the meningococcal form, 10percent of the population carries the bacteria harmlessly in their noses and throats. Carriers spread it by coughing, kissing and sharing drinking glasses ? particularly in crowded conditions such as dormitories where young people can encounter strains of the germ they?ve never been exposed to before.
Many colleges now require first years to be vaccinated, whether they?re dorm-dwellers or not.
That has shifted focus back to age 11, the time when the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting the shot, although children who missed it then can get one any time through the teen years.
The vaccine also is recommended for children from two to 10 or adults who are at high risk because of travel to countries where meningococcal disease is more rampant, such as parts of Africa and the Middle East, or because they have no spleen or some other immune-weakening conditions. ? Sapa-AP