Family of six in meningitis scare

By CATHERINE MASTERS

A family of six from South Auckland were treated for meningococcal disease yesterday as Middlemore Hospital braces itself for what looks like one of its worst winters.

They were among a record 242 people who turned up to the emergency department on Tuesday, the most patients seen in any 24-hour period.

With several months of winter still to go, the unprecedented turnout has staff flat out and worried about the strain the hospital is under.

Most of the patients had respiratory conditions such as bronchitis and pneumonia - viral illnesses that can make meningococcal disease easier to catch.

Two of the four children in the family of six have been confirmed with the highly contagious illness, which can rapidly kill.

The other two showed symptoms, but yesterday were awaiting test results.

The parents did not have the illness but were treated with antibiotics as a precaution.

Child health manager Nettie Knetsch said she could not stress strongly enough the dangers of meningitis.

"It is a horrible and very scary illness. They can die in a few hours."

New Zealand, whose epidemic has raged for nine and a half years and shows no sign of waning, has the world's worst levels of serogroup B meningitis. It has killed several hundred people.

One of the latest victims was a boy of three at Middlemore Hospital just weeks ago.

He died despite his family seeking help immediately and getting treatment early.

Ms Knetsch said most victims who were treated early enough recovered - although hundreds of children have been left permanently scarred and maimed during the epidemic.

She praised the family for taking quick action when they spotted the symptoms in the first child, their 7-year-old boy, and took him straight to a doctor.

The boy's father, who did not want to be named, said his son's school had given him a handout to bring home listing the symptoms and he had stuck it on the fridge.

Yesterday, he urged parents not to take any chances.

"He was complaining about a headache and he did not want to eat so we came to emergency straight away.

"We suspected meningitis."

The boy's mother had noticed her other children had rashes, which is another symptom.

She pleaded with parents to not ignore their children when they complain of feeling unwell.

An extensive education campaign has been running in South Auckland, one of the areas of the country that is hardest hit by a disease associated with poverty and overcrowding and spread by saliva and close contact.