Just a week ago we explained that a family in the United Kingdom had decided to publish a photo of their daughter who was sick of meningitis B, before she died, as a complaint for not having had a vaccination.
Just a few days later we learned that in Spain, the baby who died from this disease in October, in Galicia, is added another baby who died in Seville, while the vaccine is still in a state of broken stock, almost disappeared.
It happened a month ago
Although the case has been communicated to the press this week, as we read in La Vanguardia, the two-year-old boy died a month ago.
Once the disease was detected, a shock treatment was administered to try to fight it, without success. The boy died and the Andalusian Ministry of Health has confirmed that it was an isolated case and not an outbreak, since no family member developed the disease.
But how common is meningitis B?
No. Not really, but we are in the age of internet and social networks and now what happens anywhere in the world reaches us all.
The meningitis B affects, according to the AEP, to about 400-600 people every year. The problem is that of those 400-600, 40 to 60 die (1 in 10 do not survive), and of those who survive, between 10 and 30% is left with some more or less important neurological sequel.
That is, every year about 40-60 people die from meningitis B, with children under 5 being the most exposed, who are at greatest risk. In relative terms there are very few children, but at the press level, at the internet level, 40 to 60 are many deaths.
So is it better to vaccinate or not?
The AEP recommends vaccination, just as it recommends the vaccination of meningitis C, which is administered free of charge to all children.
The problem is that you have to buy it, and not only that, but if you are going to buy it, you can't even, because vaccines come to pharmacies with droppers.
In the nursing office I never recommend (nor do I stop recommending) any vaccine, because it is not my role to do so. I inform of its existence and I always say that it is very difficult for a child to catch this disease, but that if he has the bad luck of catching it is very serious.
And then I remind you of the typical phrase of our parents and grandparents, who sometimes told us things like "I had a little brother (or older) whom I barely knew because he took a meningitis and died."
What can I do if I want to wear it to my son?
Well what all parents are doing: go to the pharmacy and ask for it as soon as possible. It is not that we have to run, because as I say we are not in an epidemic situation, much less, they are simply giving the same cases as always, but if the vaccine exists, we have to make the decision to administer it or not, and of course, if we choose yes, the best is put it as soon as possible.
