DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My 6-month-old infant has recovered from HIBmeningitis. Although he was diagnosed early, I had no idea he was sosick. His only symptom was a persisting temperature (103 degrees).Please discuss this. G. T.
DEAR G. T. : HIB meningitis is an infection of the meninges, thebrain coverings. If not treated quickly, brain damage, even death,can occur. It is spread by droplets of nose and throat secretions.The HIB organism is the most common meningitis-causing bacterium upto age 6.
Meningitis is not easily diagnosed in infancy. The symptoms,chiefly fretfulness, fever, perhaps vomiting, are so common ininfants that the infection can easily be missed. In older children,a severe headache is almost always the suspect symptom. In any case,a sample of spinal fluid provides conclusive evidence of infection.
While prompt antibiotic treatment almost always brings a cure,an unfortunate few youngsters have residual neurologic damage. Don'tconfuse it with influenza, which is virus-caused. HIB is not avirus.
My real purpose here is to inform parents of a new anti-HIBvaccine, and I emphasize the word new. It is more effective inprevention than the previous one.
Send questions to Dr. Donohue, Box 19660, Irvine, Calif.92713-0660.
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