On January 31, an alert was launched to the Regional Health Agency (ARS), informing several cases of meningococcal meningitis within the same family in Rennes and Chantepie southeast of the Metropolis Breton. A young woman, Case of contact, died on Monday, February 3 after initially presenting the symptoms of a classic influenza syndrome, then experienced disease lightning, according to BFMTV information.
From now on, the Ars says that he has identified around forty people in contact with contacts, after having spent more than an hour less than a meter of the person transported by Meningococcus.
“Bacteria are transmitted by drops and respiratory and pharyngeal secretions,” explains the Pasteur Institute. They will be in the throat and the nose of the infected person. The transmission of the disease between individuals requires close and prolonged contact. “But how to recognize this infection?
• Fever and vomiting
Meningitis is “an infection of the spinal cord and the envelopes surrounding the brain, the meninges”, caused by various types of viruses, bacteria and fungi, the institute said.
The meningococci (another name of the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis) constitute the main causes of acute meningitis. There are different strains of this bacteria: mainly A, B, C, W, X E Y.
Among the generally observed symptoms, we find fever, violent headache and vomiting or even light intolerance (photophobia) or noise (phonophobia) …
• Rigid neck, consciousness disorders …
In addition to the infectious symptoms, meningococcal meningitis also combines meland syndrome (in relation to the membranes that surround the central nervous system, the editor’s note). It is manifested by a stiffness of the neck at the level of the cervical, a state of lethargy, consciousness disorders, even coma.
“In newborns and babies, these symptoms are less marked: brutal fever access is sometimes accompanied by seizures or vomiting,” reports the Pasteur Institute.
The appearance of red or purple spots that gradually extend to the skin must immediately alert. It is “a severity criterion of the infection and a threat of septic shock, imposing antibiotic treatment and emergency hospitalization,” alerts the institute.
In the event that bacteria infect blood, the limbs of the body can cool, muscle and joint pain may appear and breathing can be accelerated.
• 500 to 600 sick people per year
To diagnose the infection, it is necessary to practice a lumbar puncture (sampling of the cerebrospinal fluid) and an analysis of the bacteria present in the blood.
The severity and risk of the evolution of the disease impose the implementation of an antibiotic treatment “as quickly as possible,” insists on the Institut Pasteur. It is administered intravenously and can continue between four and seven days.
Despite treatments, meningococcal infections retain a high mortality rate (10%) and strong epidemic potential. However, the best prevention remains vaccination. In March 2024, the high health authority advocated Meningococcus mandatory vaccination for children under one year.
“In France, around 500 to 600 people per year are affected by a serious meningococcal infection. If, during the cavid period, the number of contamination in méningococci was observed, an important rebound was observed in 2022-2023 (421 cases between January and September 2023), “says Institut Pasteur.
Source: BFM TV
