In the suburbs of Bordeaux, a 3-year-old boy died of severe meningitis. A girl from her school is also infected and goes into a coma. The students in contact with the two children were treated with one of the preventive antibiotics. We do not know if the two cases are related, or if it is pure fluke.
The suburbs of Bordeaux had to deal this week with two dangerous and contagious diseases: Covid-19 and meningitis. This Sunday, November 8, a little boy barely 3 years old died from meningococcal meningitis, a serious infection of the meninges that affects the membranes of the brain and is fatal in 50% of cases. This type of meningitis can kill within hours. Sudden, excruciating news for the boy's family and all school staff.
The National Health Agency (ARS) revealed on Tuesday, November 10 that another child, also attending Pierre and Marie Curie School in Floirac, is currently hospitalized at CHU Pellegrin in Bordeaux. According to France Bleu, the girl is in stable condition, but is still in a coma.
A contact between the two children?
Although meningitis is extremely contagious, it is necessary to perceive a regular and more or less long contact with a sick person to be infected. According to information provided by France Bleu, the two toddlers are not in the same class.
Doctor Sylvie Quelet, deputy director for monitoring, alert and health response at ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine, announced that they do not know at this time whether the two cases are linked. It could be a fluke.
And for other students in contact?
Although the school did not close as the bacteria do not survive in the air and "therefore does not require the disinfection of objects or premises or the closure of the school", Says Dr. Quelet, about 40 children were considered as contact cases. They were in fact indirectly in contact with the boy whether in class, at the nap, or at the day center.
The children were then immediately put on a 48-hour preventive antibiotic treatment to prevent tragic new cases. According to Sylvie Quelet, “the national education system was very responsive from the moment we contacted them after having ourselves been warned by the CHU”. She says now everything is under control.
All our thoughts are with the family of the little boy, and also the girl.
What to do if you suspect meningitis?
Remember that the symptoms of meningitis are: headache constant, diffuse, intense, exaggerated by noise, light or mobilization, of fever, stiffness, a stiffness in the neck, a great fatigue, vomiting, a photophobia (intolerance to light) and / or a phonophobia (noise intolerance), and a constipation.
If you or your child is suffering from these different symptoms, you must immediately call your doctor, or go directly to the hospital if the latter does not respond. Tests, such as a lumbar puncture, will be taken to determine if it is viral or bacterial meningitis.
In most cases, meningitis is painful but is treated properly. We should therefore not panic, but remain vigilant.