Fewer children dying from meningitis

The Alder Hey study tracked 123 children

There has been a sharp fall in the number of children dying from meningitis and septicaemia in two areas of the country, according to separate studies published on Monday.

Researchers from Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool found that death rates from meningococcal disease have dropped.

A separate study revealed that cases of fatal meningococcal disease have decreased in southern England by almost 60% within five years, after the establishment of a specialist unit.

One of the authors, Dr Paul Baines, a doctor at Alder Hey, said that awareness of the disease has heightened, resulting in earlier recognition and treatment.

'Aggressive' treatment

Researchers at Alder Hey tracked 123 children with meningococcal disease admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit at the hospital between 1995 and 1998.

Their ages ranged from two months to 16 years.

Eleven of the children died, giving a death rate of just under 9%.

Time is of the essence which is why our work has been key

Michael Levin, St Mary's Hospital

A validated scoring system to assess the likely risk of death according to the severity of the disease indicated that the death rates should have been almost 25%.

Dr Baines said that "improved management in A&E departments" could also have helped along with increasing resources and "more aggressive" treatment regimes.

The fall in death rates in southern England was attributed to the establishment of the specialist unit at St Mary's Hospital, London.

It was opened in 1992 and includes the use of a mobile intensive care service.

Limb amputation

Michael Levin, Imperial College professor of Paediatrics at the hospital said the disease continues to affect around 2,000 children a year and claims over 100 lives in the UK.

"Time is of the essence which is why our work has been key.

"Real-time advice on immediate clinical management when the child first arrives at their local hospital means that resuscitation and stabilisation efforts can be started even before the arrival of our mobile intensive care team there."

One in 10 patients with meningitis will die, despite treatment with antibiotics - those who survive maybe permanently disabled as a result of limb amputation, extensive scarring, or neurological injury.

The two studies are published in the journal "Archives of Disease in Childhood".