It is essential in this period of Covid emergency not to let your guard down, protect children and complete vaccination cycles, in particular against the pathologies that are most frightening, such as meningitis. To reiterate it Milena Lo Giudice, free choice pediatrician from Palermo. “These are infectious diseases that affect the envelope of the brain and spinal cord, precisely the meninges. They can be of various kinds: viral, fungal and bacterial. The most serious are certainly the latter. Different bacteria are recognized that can give rise to this pathology but, the most frequently affected, after the neonatal period, are meningococcus, pneumococcus and haemophilus influentiae ”, explains Lo Giudice.
Bacterial diseases are more serious than viral diseases and are accompanied by more acute symptoms. “10%, in fact, hesitates in the death of the patient – continues the expert – while 20-30% gives effects at a distance, such as deafness, paralysis, mental retardation and, in even more important cases, amputations of limbs. Meningitis are therefore very serious diseases, with an acute onset, in which at a certain point, suddenly, the child begins to feel bad, sometimes even within a few hours. In these cases, the use of specific and active antibiotics against these germs can often not be effective and it is not able to prevent the evolution of the disease “. That’s why the only really effective weapon we have at our disposal to defend our little ones from meningitis is certainly vaccination.
Thus reaffirmed the importance of prevention, which clinicians and experts heard in the context of “Pre-Occupiamoci della meningitis” agree, an editorial project to raise awareness at national level on the risks associated with this pathology, conceived and promoted by the beraking latest news Group with the non-conditioning support of Gsk Italia. “There are several vaccinations – explains Lo Giudice – but what we need to underline is that in all cases, these are safe vaccines, not only because they are abundantly tested, but above all because they are obtained from very small bacteria proteins, capable of inducing immunity and never capable of producing the actual disease. I would like to specify it because I have found in my work that parents are often afraid that the “disease” will be injected with the vaccine in a slightly more attenuated way “.
Another fundamental aspect is that of relationship of the pediatrician with the family and small patients. “The role of the family pediatrician is fundamental in the choice of families for the execution of any vaccination. The fundamental lever is the relationship of trust. The pediatrician is by nature the child’s specialist and the doctor competent in vaccinations. It is normal for the family to have doubts and want to inquire but it is equally right to respond to all these fears with scientific arguments. and guide you towards the right choices, such as vaccination against meningitis. Many times mothers, when they turn to the pediatrician because the child has a high fever, often have retrothinks and the fear that it could be meningitis. Vaccinating the child against these pathologies, in addition to saving the life of a child, would improve the general state of anxiety of the mother, of the parents but also of us pediatricians “.
Therefore, in this emergency period, it is essential not to let your guard down, protect children and complete vaccination cycles. “Currently, unfortunately, it is as if the only existing pathology was that given by Covid but this is not the case – concludes the pediatrician -. One of the fields in which this phenomenon has been felt most is precisely that relating to the vaccination of children and adolescents. Instead, we must keep our guard up against all diseases, especially the most serious ones, such as meningitis. So an important recommendation to make parents is to pay attention to the vaccination schedule in all regions ”.