Meningitis outbreak: two girls struck down
Probe as one child (6) dies and a second is seriously ill
A PUBLIC health investigation is under way into a meningitis outbreak that has claimed the life of a six-year-old girl and left another girl seriously ill.
The little girl who passed away was last night named locally as Kayla Carey, a senior infants pupil at Scoil Mhuire in Navan, Co Meath. The second girl remained seriously ill in hospital last night.
It’s understood the two children attended the same school and were hospitalised on Thursday. The HSE confirmed the cases were reported to the Department of Public Health, HSE North East.
Schoolchildren at Scoil Mhuire were sent home yesterday as a precaution and psychologists from the National Educational Psychological Service will be attending to provide support to teachers and parents.
Dr Paul Kavanagh, director of public health medicine, HSE North East, said that they were aware of the “anxiety” that had been caused in the locality.
AN investigation is under way into a meningitis outbreak that has claimed the life of a six-year-old girl and left another child seriously ill.
The little girl who passed away was last night named locally as Kayla Carey, a senior infants pupil at Scoil Mhuire in Navan, Co Meath. The other little girl remained seriously ill in hospital last night.
It’s understood the two children attended the same school.
Principal of Scoil Mhuire (inset), Colm Devlin said that everyone was “deeply saddened”.
“Kayla is a senior infant pupil here and she will be greatly missed by all who knew her,” Mr Devlin told the Irish Independent. “Offers of support have been pouring in and are greatly appreciated. Our sympathy and thoughts are with Kayla’s family and friends.”
Mr Devlin added that the school implemented our Critical Incident Management Plan. Schoolchildren were sent home on yesterday as a precaution and psychologists from the National Educational Psychological Service will be attending to provide support to teachers and parents. Parents were advised to take their children to a GP to be checked. HSE doctors were present in the school to speak to parents about the next steps. The HSE confirmed the cases were reported to the Department of Public Health, HSE North East yesterday. Dr Paul Kavanagh, director of public health medicine at HSE
North East, said it was aware of the “anxiety” that has been caused in the locality.
“Our thoughts in the first instance are clearly with the families of these two children, and particularly with the family of the child who sadly and tragically died,” he said.
“We are obviously very much aware of the anxiety that is being experienced locally. Our focus is to ensure appropriate public health measures are put
in place. Our medical experts are working closely with the school where they attended, advising and supporting parents, guardians and teachers.
“While advising vigilance in relation to looking out for signs and symptoms of the disease, the health protection team are actively managing the situation locally.”
The Meningitis Foundation said last night: “We would like to offer our sincere condolences
to (the child’s) family and friends; we are here for them if they would like any support.”
A vaccine is available against all strains, and one for the meningitis B vaccine became available in 2013. All children born on or after October 1 in 2016 are now given the B vaccine free at two and four months old. However, there has been no catch-up programme for older children. Parents must pay €180 privately for a