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Question:

my son died of meningicocol septicemia at the age of 17 it was fairly quick less than 24 hours .why can some people be as ill as he was and still recover ?

Answer:

Dr Scott Hackett says:

Janet I am very sorry to hear about your son. In some patients with meningococcal disease (MCD), which includes meningitis, septicaemia (blood infection) and mixed meningitis and septicaemia, despite prompt, aggressive, and appropriate treatment they cannot be saved. In the UK, the mortality (death rate) for meningococcal septicaemia has fallen from approximately 30% in the early 80s to about 3-6% and for meningococcal meningitis probably to less than 1%. I am unsure which category your son fell into but often patients have a mixed picture.

A study by Dr Ninis and Professor Levin (one of the other experts answering questions) in 2005 looked at over 100 children who died from MCD and compared then to over 300 who survived. In 60% of patients that died, they identified aspects of treatment that were sub-optimal. These included failure to recognise MCD early, failure of prompt antibiotic treatment, failure to get senior paediatric help, and failure to administer drugs to maintain blood pressure rapidly. These factors were significantly more likely to have occurred in the patients that died compared to those that survived. Another way of looking at this data is that 23 patients died before they got to hospital and in approximately 40% of the patients that died treatment met nationally agreed management guidelines for MCD. This confirms the facts that paediatricians who look after patients with MCD knew that in some the disease progresses so rapidly that patients either do no make it to hospital or if they do and despite full intensive care therapy we are unable to halt the inflammatory process seen in MCD. The inflammatory process triggered in MCD is a complex interaction between Neisseria meningitidis (the bacteria that causes MCD) and the patients' own immune system, which we do not fully understand yet.

There is still no vaccine available for group B Neisseria meningitidis that accounts for the majority of MCD in the UK. Early MCD can present very similarly to other common viral illnesses and also the majority of children with petechial spots, which do not disappear under a tumbler, do not have MCD. Therefore, our best hope of reducing the death rate further lies in the early recognition of MCD and early, prompt and aggressive treatment for all patients with suspected MCD.

Comments

Frankie
Posts: 3

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Reply #3 on : Mon November 07, 2011, 08:28:49

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I'd veuntre that this article has saved me more time than any other.

Scott Hackett
Posts: 3

new comment
Reply #2 on : Mon March 01, 2010, 13:44:31

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Janet I am afraid that your story is not that uncommon. Patients with meningococcal disease take approximately 11 hours from onset of symptoms (fever, unwell) until they develop the rash. In some obviously this occurs quicker. At the onset, symptoms are very difficult to separate from a viral illness. As a doctor who looks after patients with meningococcal disease I always dreaded the early morning call as often those patients have become unwell whilst asleep and when they come to hospital are very sick.
If patients are unwell then they need to be reviewed regularly. If you are not happy with a doctor’s assessment then I would suggest A&E attendance as this allows the patient to be reviewed for longer.

janet hobbs
Posts: 3

new comment
Reply #1 on : Thu February 25, 2010, 14:22:50

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thankyou for the answer,you say some patients die because lack of early recognition of the desease i think this was the case for my sons death as when we called the doctor late in the evening he didnt want to come out when we finally got him to come out we told him how concerned we were but he just said give him 2 paracetamols so therfore he went all night getting worse . in the morning he had the rash ,the same doctor came and gave him the injection too late of course he went to hospital tee last time we saw him alive . i blame the doctor he didnt even want to bother come to see my poor son.

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