Note mortality rate, but again it is not clear that this is for meningococcemia alone, but it appears to be.
January 4 1999
BRITAIN
'Kissing bug' claims lives of two children from the same school,
Michael Hornsby writes
Pupils given anti-meningitis pills
EVERY pupil at a school where two teenagers died of meningitis after
attending a Christmas party were called in yesterday to receive antibiotics
to prevent the disease spreading. All 1,750 children at Wath
Comprehensive near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, William Hague's old
school, were given the antibiotics in tablet form.
The precaution was taken after the deaths on New Year's Eve of Claire
Wilkinson, 14, and Adam Rawson, 15, both pupils at the school. All the
children will receive injections today. A helpline for worried parents has
been set up by the local health authority.
The two teenagers who died had been friends and it is thought the pair
may have passed the illness to one another after kissing at a Christmas
party. The school itself is not thought to have been the source of the
outbreak.
The tragedy was made worse because Claire had to be turned away from
hospitals in South Yorkshire because there were no beds available in
intensive care units.
She was eventually taken to a hospital in Nottingham, 40 miles away,
after a seven-hour wait at the Rotherham General Hospital. Claire's
mother, Carole Wilkinson, said: "I am absolutely devastated. I cannot
believe that in a civilised country there were no beds available for a
seriously ill child."
Explaining the decision to move Claire, a hospital spokesman said: "She
was taken to Rotherham General, but during her treatment the decision
will have been made that the patient needed specialist paediatric intensive
care unit facilities. Not everyone suffering from meningitis would need
that sort of treatment.
"What happened then was that Sheffield was approached and that was
found to be full. Nottingham was then approached and they did have a
bed available."
A spokesman for the National Meningitis Trust gave a warning that at this
time of year the disease was at its most prevalent because of increased
social interaction.
Last year there were 2,600 cases of the disease, resulting in 270 deaths.
"We do see a big increase during November and December so it is
important that people are aware of the symptoms and seek medical
attention immediately.
"People are more at risk at this time of year because they tend to be in
closer contact with others. "One in ten of us carries the bacteria which
cause the illness but it is important to remember that meningitis is still a
very difficult disease to catch. We certainly don't want to suggest people
avoid social interaction at Christmas; it is after all how people build up
resistance.
"Teenagers are particularly at risk because they do tend to have increased
social contact, but I would stress that it is a difficult bacterium to pass on
and it is rare that more than one pupil at a school would get the disease." |
