The first child with meningococcal meningitis appeared in Nghe An

(Baonghean.vn)- Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital said it is actively treating a child with fulminant meningitis caused by meningococcus. This is the first case to appear in Nghe An in the past 2 years.

The patient being treated for meningococcal meningitis, fulminant form, with a poor prognosis is Ho Huu Trung Kien (6 years old), residing in Quynh Trang commune, Hoang Mai town, Nghe An.

On August 8, the child was admitted to the hospital with a high fever, no convulsions, headache, vomiting, lethargy, incontinence, and hemorrhagic necrosis concentrated on the abdomen and back.

The patient is being treated in hospital.

Doctors performed a lumbar puncture and found increased pressure, cloudy fluid like rice water, acute protein in the cerebrospinal fluid, dense microscopic cells, neutrophils accounting for nearly 92%. Blood tests showed a very high white blood cell count, up to 21,0000 WBC.

Based on the patient's typical symptoms and test results, doctors concluded that the patient had meningococcal meningitis, fulminant form, with a poor prognosis.

Dr. Nguyen Van Son, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, said that this is the first case of meningococcal meningitis in Nghe An this year. The hospital has notified the Nghe An Provincial Preventive Medicine Center so that units can isolate and monitor people in close contact with the patient and use preventive medicine.

Meningococcal meningitis is a dangerous disease that can cause septic shock after only a few hours of infection. Meningococcal encephalitis and meningitis is an acute infection caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis. There are four main groups of bacteria: A, B, C and D. Groups A and B meningococcal meningitis are the most common. The main sources of infection are patients and healthy people carrying the bacteria. The disease is transmitted through the respiratory tract by inhaling respiratory droplets containing the pathogen. Anyone can be infected with meningococcal bacteria, the group at highest risk of infection is young people.

After 2 days of treatment, the patient is progressing positively.

When infected with meningococcal bacteria, the incubation period is 2-10 days, usually 3-4 days. Patients have symptoms of fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck (infants have bulging fontanelles), lethargy, sensitivity to light, and may have asterisk-shaped rash or signs of septic shock... These symptoms are similar to other common viral encephalitis and meningitis.

In the past 5 years, the country has had 610 cases of meningococcal encephalitis, of which 25 were fatal. In 2015, the country had 102 cases, of which 4 died. The number of cases is not high, but meningococcal encephalitis is an acute infectious disease that can lead to death or leave many serious sequelae, especially spreading through the respiratory tract, so it is always warned to be dangerous. Patients can even die within 24 hours of the onset of the disease.

PV