Suffering from meningitis, her 7-month-old daughter had to be amputated

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The mother of a 7-month-old girl who has been amputated shares her experience and warns about the risks of meningitis and the reflexes to have.

“If I hadn’t had the reflex to call for help, she would have died.” Three years ago, Mélanie, mother of a little girl of seven and a half months, experienced a tragedy. While in good health, her daughter Luana suffered fromtype B meningococcal infection. On June 29, she looked back on that afternoon when everything changed in Le Figaro. In July 2019, when she simply had a fever, her condition gradually deteriorated over the day. “She continued to play, but the fever kept rising despite the Doliprane. At one point I picked her up, she was very limp, like a rag doll”, explains Melanie. Taken by firefighters to the Lille University Hospital, the little girl presents small white and red buttons in the neck spotted by caregivers.

After examinations, the presence of the bacteria is confirmed. In the evening, his condition deteriorates again and it is now all his blood that is infected. Her body is covered with purple spots and she is plunged into a coma before staying “three days between life and death”. Eventually, Luana survives but is discharged from the hospital. “with two legs and his right hand fingers missing”. With this type of infection, the condition of the child can deteriorate in just a few hours, which is why it is important to know what meningitis is and steps to take.

Faced with meningitis: act quickly

Invasive meningococcal infections mainly affect infants, young children and young adults, that is to say from 0 to 24 years old. In adults and children, they manifest as fever and severe headache. For infants, there are other signs to look out for. “Faced with a baby who is limp, grumpy, who has a fever or who categorically refuses to walk when he usually does, we must not waste time, explains Dr. Maeva Lefebvre, infectious disease specialist at the Nantes University Hospital, to Figaro. You have to undress the child completely, including the diaper, and watch that there are no small red spots that appear, especially in the folds of the skin. In the slightest doubt, it is imperative to go to the emergency room.

Each year there are approximately 500 cases of invasive meningococcal infections and 50 to 60 people die from it, lists Public Health France. Since this year, the vaccine against serogroup B meningococcal infections is recommended and refunded. That against that of serogroup C is mandatory for children born after January 1, 2018.

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