Child who died of meningitis in Belluno, Christian had been vaccinated for pneumococcus

“It is a painful case of meningite pneumococcica resulting from an invasive form of pneumococcus, one of those rare cases that unfortunately happen. The child had been vaccinated regularly, and also against the pneumococcus he had done two of the three recommended doses, the third had been postponed because the little one had had some respiratory problems for a month and a half. No one should reproach themselves for anything: everyone did what could have been done. Alas, invasive forms of bacteria happen that in rare cases leave no way out ». The director of the Prevention department of Ulss 1 Dolomiti, Sandro Cinquetti tell what happened to the baby Christian Luzovydied in the hospital of Padova a few days ago with fulminant meningitis, after the emergency transfer from Belluno.

“Pneumococcus presents 90 different shapes, is a challenging bacterium due to its great biological variability, and can present invasive forms. Currently the vaccine covers 13 of these forms, but work is being done on a vaccine that includes 20. Pneumococcus is usually located in the respiratory system, but sometimes, as happened in this case, it has reached the meninges. From here the picture then became more complicated and precipitated», says Cinquetti again.

The director of Prevention specifies that the one that happened to little Christian falls into a rare form, «it is an unhappy and unfortunate case, the pneumococcus vaccine is chasing more and more strains, but many are still excluded. We therefore await to see which strain has affected the child, although I believe that it could be a strain not covered by the vaccine».

Little Christian had arrived at the Belluno emergency room on November 21 but no meningeal sign had emerged. When he was discharged, he had a fever and antibiotic therapy had been recommended for the eventual recovery of fever. Then on the 23rd he returned because the fever didn’t go away and he was hospitalized. In the night between Wednesday and Thursday his clinical picture had plummeted, going into a coma and hence the transfer to the hospital in Padua, where unfortunately he died. «It is certainly an important loss for the community and a failure of medicine, because we didn’t manage to solve this case», comments Cinquetti who adds: «The child had entered the hospital with a respiratory form apparently linked to a viral form. He had also undergone tests which had highlighted the presence of rhinovirus and low-cycle Covid since the child had previously had. But within a few hours, however, the dramatic evolution was recorded ».

While waiting for the typification of the bacterium that killed little Christian, the director of Prevention, Sandro Cinquetti is keen to clarify that «the people of Belluno and especially the parents of small children must not get caught up in alarmism. Parents have to live normally, because you do what you have to do and face events with determination and attention”.