Disease's grip gave nurse a night of terror

By REBECCA WALSH

Public health nurse Linda Legge vividly remembers the night her 4-month-old daughter was admitted to hospital with suspected meningococcal disease.

"It was utter terror. Even though you are a nurse, you are a mother first.

"As a nurse I knew the worst possible scenario," the Howick woman said. "I can remember sitting and praying, 'Please don't take my baby away'. It was utter fear.

"You are out of control - you can't do anything. I couldn't help her in any way. It was up to the doctors and God to help her. There was nothing I could do but sit beside her and wait."

Mrs Legge is one of a team of nearly 100 public health nurses recruited to vaccinate 90,000 schoolchildren in the Counties Manukau area and some parts of East Auckland against meningococcal B. It is a project she fully supports.

"I have seen it; I have experienced it. We have to stop this. We have to stop our children dying."

Four-month-old Eden, normally a contented, happy baby, had been unsettled throughout the night. Mrs Legge took her to a GP about 6am, was told it was a sinus infection, given antibiotics and sent home.

She did not believe the diagnosis and had a strong feeling something was seriously wrong. Eden's temperature climbed throughout the day despite efforts to keep her cool.

By night her temperature had reached 41.3C - about 37C is normal - and Mrs Legge took Eden back to the same Accident and Emergency Clinic.

As the doctor - a different one - listened to her heart, bruising started to appear under her skin.

"He literally just went "Oh my god", picked her up and ran [for the resuscitation room]."

The GP told her it looked like meningococcal disease and as calls were made to the ambulance service and Middlemore Hospital, Eden was given intravenous penicillin.

Her hands and feet started to turn black in the ambulance.

A doctor at the hospital told the family he was "99 per cent sure" Eden had the beginnings of meningococcal disease.

"He told us if we had got it in time she would be fine. Otherwise she had a 10 per cent chance of survival.

"At 8am she was lying in bed smiling."

Because Eden had been given penicillin it was impossible to grow a culture from the lumbar puncture to confirm meningococcal disease - her medical records say she had a serious bacterial infection.

Now aged 7 and a pupil at Owairoa Primary School, Eden recovered fully and has no lasting side-effects.

Mrs Legge said parents who were concerned about children with a fever should trust their instincts and see a doctor.

KidzFirst public health nurse co-ordinator Elizabeth Farrell said eight teams of nurses would go into about 226 primary, intermediate and secondary schools in the Counties Manukau area.