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Question:

My nephew aged 11 months was healthy - had received all the 'jabs'. On Day 1 he became irritable. On Day 2 he also cried a lot, was hot and had a high temperature - saw GP - said he had 'flu symptoms/ prescribed Calpol& Nurofen and not to worry. Morning of Day 3(Sunday) he saw a Hospital Doctor in A&E. Temp was 38.5 Told he had a virus but was fighting it and to continue with Calpol/Nurofen. We knew he was ill. On afternoon of Day 3 he was taken back to Hospital and diagnosed with likely meningitis. Rushed into Intensive Care and despite best efforts and great attention died from bacterial meningitis on Day 4. Family remain devastated. Q. Neither GP Doctor or A&E Doctor diagnosed the illness although the signs were there. Meningitis is less common than in past decades. However has Family Doctor/A&E Doctor awareness levels of meningitis symptoms dropped because of this(less common) and reliance on the vaccines now given to babies like my nephew to combat the disease ?

Answer:

Dr Andrew Riordan says:

I'm sorry to hear about your nephew. Detecting the early signs of meningitis in children can be very difficult. If a GP sees a thousand children with a fever, only one of them will have meningitis. Many children with meningitis are seen by a doctor in the early part of their illness, but not sent to hospital at that time. This is because the early features of meningitis are similar to ‘flu and other common childhood infections. If parents have particular concerns about their child's illness, this may be an important clue that the illness could be serious.

Some forms of meningitis are less common now, due to vaccines (like Hib), but awareness of meningitis is probably greater due to the work done by the Meningitis Charities. Awareness for doctors has increased recently with the publication of NICE guidance. Guidance on how to assess children with fever was published in 2006 and guidance on meningitis will be published later this year. This guidance should help doctors look for and detect warning signs, so that children can we given the correct treatment.

Comments

Joanne Grieve
Posts: 4

new comment
Reply #4 on : Sat February 27, 2010, 20:45:16

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My son became ill on 23rd October 2008, despite 4 trips to the doctors in 4 days he was only referred to hospital due to our concern. Once in hospital he was diagnosed immediately. Only 2 weeks ago did we stop giving him intravenous antibiotics 3 times a day. We are hoping his next MRI will give us the results we are hoping for and he can have his central line taken out. He was born with a dimple at the bottom of his back which is a clear indication of a connection to the spine. This was missed in all his baby checks and was the cause of him contracting this awful illness. Please accept our condolences for your loss. If hi-lighting these cases makes one doctor look twice before dismissing a child as just having a virus then our pain is not wasted. People talk all the time about parents needing to be educated of the signs, we should also be taught not to take everything our doctors say for granted.

My thoughts are with you x

nikki martin
Posts: 4

new comment
Reply #3 on : Sat February 27, 2010, 20:27:39

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My 8 year old daughter didn't have the rash but was in a coma when she was taken to hospital. I cannot fault Exeter hospital as they tested for Meningitis as soon as we arrived and gave both antibiotics for viral and bacterial. If they hadn't i am sure I would have lost her.

I am very sorry that your lost your child and my thoughts are with you also.

Yvette Carrous_Gibbs
Posts: 4

new comment
Reply #2 on : Thu February 25, 2010, 19:26:04

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I have lost faith in the medical system - I lost my son to meninococcal septecaemia in 2007 - when we took him in he was been tested for sickle cells and other tropical diseases as he was African - by the time they saw his rash it was to late and I lost him 5 hrs after - he was 19.

do not take 'it is just a simple cold and go home with some Calpol - insist on your child being tested for meningitis - follow your parental instinct when your child is not well.

My thoughts are with you - I know how you feel.

Yvette Carrous_Gibbs
Posts: 4

new comment
Reply #1 on : Thu February 25, 2010, 19:24:38

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I have lost faith in the medical system - I lost my son to meningnoccal septecaemia in 2007 - when we took him in he was been tested for sickle cells and other tropical diseases as he was African - by the time they saw his rash it was tto late and I lost him 5 hrs after - he was 19.

do not take 'it is just a simple cold and go hoe with some Calpol - insist on your child being tested for meningitis - follow your parental instinct when your child is not well.

My thoughts are with you - I know how you feel.

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