My 5yr old niece Adriauna was rushed to the hospital last night. She had been running a high temperature, was throwing up, had headaches, and she said her back hurt.
My sister called my mom at about 2:30 to tell her that Adriauna was very sick and acting like she was out in space, and my mom told Karla (my sister) that she'd meet her at Mercy hospital. Upon arrival Adriauna was unresponsive to stimulus and was obviously very sick. They gave her morphine and a spinal tap. The nurse reported that the fluid was "cloudy." Shortly thereafter Adriauna was diagnosed with a severe case of spinal mengitis, or monoccocial (sp?) mengitis stemming from the bacterial infection, not the viral type. They rushed her to childrens hospital and started IV's immediately. 10-20% of patients with the bacterial form of mengitis die even with treatment, and the disease can be fatal as quickly as 2 hrs after the onset of severe symptoms. It's quite dangerous and the dept of health and human safety must be notified of any confirmed cases.
Auna woke up after IV's were administered and asked if she was a good girl if they could rent 2 movies when they went home. It was a relief that she was back and fighting. The doctors said she is doing well at this point, but she will spend at least the next 7-10 days in the hospital on IV's and the next 24hrs she will continue to be mildly contagious. Until that time, she will also remain in intensive care.
I bought her a new picture book (60's Muscle Cars, she's a car nut
) and I'll be visiting her tomorrow after they give the clear that the contagious period is over.
I have been exposed to the disease as have others in my family. I just hope Auna comes through okay and nobody else comes down with it. The numbers are not good as you can see above.