Child’s death likely caused by meningitis, officials say

A 5-year-old boy taken to a Spring clinic two days after developing symptoms of what initially seemed a stomach bug probably died of bacterial meningitis, Montgomery County health officials said Thursday.

A spokeswoman said final lab results, expected early next week, likely will confirm the boy had the relatively rare but contagious disease before dying Monday. She said any risk to the general public was low because the exposure did not involve a populated setting like a school or church.

Family, staffers at the Express Family Clinic, emergency responders and at least one close-by patient at the clinic have received preventive treatment with an antibiotic, she said.

Myles Cheatham came down with a stomach ache and fever Saturday seemingly going around the family, said Andrea Smoorenburg, a family friend. The boy’s symptoms were initially controlled with Tylenol, but they progressed to vomiting and shortness of breath Monday and he was taken to the clinic.

After his heart stopped, Myles was taken by ambulance to Texas Children’s Hospital’s campus in The Woodlands. Despite CPR, he never regained consciousness.

Death from bacterial, or meningococcal, meningitis can occur in as little as a few hours, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It kills up to 15 percent of infected people despite treatment and up to 50 percent who are not treated.

Caused by a bacterium called Neisseria meningitidis, it is characterized by swelling of the spinal cord and brain. It typically starts like influenza — a sudden onset of such symptoms as headache, fever, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck — but the symptoms can quickly progress. It can be spread by close personal contact.

The number of cases locally and nationally has declined gradually since the early 2000s. In Texas, there were 21 cases in both 2018 and 2019, down from 203 in 2001. Eight of the cases in that two-year period occurred in Harris County, resulting in two deaths. Montgomery County last had cases in 2017, when it had two.

Although the incidence rate for the disease in Texas is highest in older adults, a disproportionate number of victims are children or young adults, typically those in college. In 2011, Texas became the first state in the country to require every college student to be vaccinated against bacterial meningitis. In 2009, Texas required students living in campus dorms to be vaccinated.

The Express Family Clinic announced the case Wednesday on its website and urged anyone who’d visited that day between 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. and developed symptoms to call the office or visit a local emergency room.

Montgomery County health department spokeswoman Misti Willingham said Thursday that clinic officials were confident anyone who came in contact with Myles had received prophylactic treatment.