“Unfortunately, the various meningococcal germs circulate and are harbored, asymptomatically, in an adult and pediatric population that tolerates them. In some subjects they are aggressive, or become so due to conditions of lowering of the immune system, such as after the flu. meningitis has a very fast course: when there are symptoms, the organs are already compromised”. Thus Mattia Doria, provincial secretary of Venice of the Italian Federation of Pediatricians (Fimp), president of the Veneto Study Center for training and research in territorial pediatrics (Cesper), commenting on the case of the young 17-year-old from Vicenza, hospitalized on Saturday 25 February in Bassano for meningitis B , for which hopes have been lost and the procedure for the declaration of brain death is underway.
“Vaccination is the tool of excellence for preventing the disease – underlines Doria – The antibiotic prophylaxis offered to the boy’s contacts is important because the spread is through droplets of saliva, but there is an incubation time of a few days in which, with the antibiotic, we can act to avoid the infection. If any symptoms arise, there is time to intervene”.
“Meningitis can be prevented – highlights the pediatrician – because we have vaccines for these infections for various strains. In Veneto, since 2015, newborns have also been offered the one against meningococcus B, which is the most widespread. Furthermore, anyone who has not been vaccinated for strain B can go to the reference Hygiene Service and ask for the vaccination with a co-payment. I offer it to my patients between the ages of 8 and 18. In fact, the disease has two peaks of incidence: the first two years of life and in adolescence, up to the age of 18”. The symptoms that occur in adolescents are “fever, headache, neck stiffness. In children – specifies the doctor – the symptoms are like sixth disease or a urinary infection. Unfortunately, the disease is rapidly progressive: it does not he has time to intervene with the drugs, which we also have. By the time the symptoms are present, the organs are already compromised. It is a very rapid infection, it is not pneumonia”.
There are two vaccines for meningococcus: “The quadrivalent for the ACWY strains and the other for the B. For newborns – continues Doria – vaccination is actively proposed. In the 10-year health balance I reinforce the recommendation for the anti- meningococcus B. The disease affects few cases, but they are dramatic situations. I can’t think of not telling a parent that there is a useful tool to prevent them. I think it is the responsibility of all pediatricians”.
“Parents should be advised not to underestimate vaccine prevention – the pediatrician reiterates – Infections are infrequent because the germ circulates less as there is a vaccinated population. The perception of risk is low”, but paradoxically “this perception increases the risks, which we doctors know and must not underestimate. When an action is recommended for neurodevelopment or an antibiotic, the doctor is trusted, and so also for the vaccine. We cannot continue to think that there are compulsory and optional vaccines: we we are talking about recommended ones. And – concludes the pediatrician – they all are”.