Meningococcal meningitis has a very high mortality rate.

A family of four in Bac Kan contracted meningitis caused by meningococcus, of which two died and two had to be hospitalized, causing many people to worry.

According to Phu Tho Province Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital, since the beginning of June, the number of hospitalizations due to meningitis has increased five times compared to the same period in 2023.

Photo caption

The National Children's Hospital has received more than 50 cases of meningitis, 10 cases of Japanese encephalitis and hundreds of cases of encephalitis caused by bacteria and viruses.

The Intensive Care Unit, Center for Tropical Diseases, National Children's Hospital is treating 7 children with encephalitis, including 2 cases of Japanese encephalitis.

PTT (7 years old, Nghe An) had to be put on a ventilator, was in a coma, had weakness on the right side of his body and had a high fever due to Japanese encephalitis. Four days before being admitted to the hospital, he had a high fever, convulsions, and then fell into a coma.

At Nghe An General Hospital, the child was suspected of having encephalitis and was ordered to have a lumbar puncture, the results confirmed Japanese encephalitis.

According to the child’s family, the child had been vaccinated against Japanese encephalitis three times but had not received a booster shot. After five days of treatment, the child was able to get off the ventilator but suffered from brain damage such as weakness on the right side of the body, tremors in the left hand, etc. In the long term, the child will have many difficulties with cognition, language, and weak limbs and will have to undergo rehabilitation.

Japanese encephalitis is transmitted through mosquito bites. The disease often causes encephalitis and meningitis in children, with a high mortality rate and sequelae (25-35%) such as: mental disorders, paralysis, language disorders, convulsions, epilepsy, bedridden... in some survivors.

In 71 cases of Japanese encephalitis from June 2022 to August 2023 at the National Children's Hospital, the survival rate was about 50%, the rest had mild to severe neurological sequelae.

Children usually need rehabilitation, after 1-3 years they can recover and walk again, but some children do not improve. The damage to perception and intelligence is still not fully assessed.

Encephalitis occurs sporadically throughout the year, especially increasing in the summer because at this time the North is hot, occasionally rainy and interspersed with cold air.

To prevent encephalitis and meningitis in general, doctors recommend that in addition to keeping the living space and personal hygiene clean, it is necessary to have a nutritional regimen to improve physical condition, wear masks, and kill mosquitoes - especially in livestock farming areas and the northern mountainous areas where there are epidemics with viruses.

Parents need to vaccinate their children fully and on schedule. Usually after 3 injections in the first 2 years of life, children need to be vaccinated again every 3-5 years, until they are 16 years old.

Currently, the Japanese encephalitis vaccine can only be given once. However, the booster vaccination rate in Vietnam is very scattered, many families are subjective and do not give booster vaccinations to their children, and most older children who get encephalitis and Japanese encephalitis are because they have not received the booster vaccination.

Doctor Nguyen Tuan Hai, vaccination expert of Safpo/Potec Vaccination System, said that meningococcal bacteria have 13 serotypes that cause disease, of which 5 groups are common in Vietnam: A, B, C, Y, W-135.

According to Dr. Hai, children under 1 year old, especially children under 5 months old, are at the highest risk of contracting group B meningococcus. In children under 1 year old, the rate of invasive meningococcal meningitis is 10 times higher (3.6/100,000) than the population rate (0.28/100,000) and serogroup B accounts for 65% of cases.

According to doctors, early prevention of group B meningococcal meningitis in children is very important.

In addition, people need to be fully vaccinated on schedule with other vaccines to prevent brain diseases such as pneumococcal vaccine, measles vaccine, chickenpox vaccine, Japanese encephalitis vaccine... to avoid the risk of disease overlapping or weakened health, making them susceptible to meningococcal bacteria attacks in the context of complex weather and many epidemics at risk of outbreaks like today.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/viem-nao-mo-cau-co-ty-le-tu-vong-rat-cao-d218010.html