Although young children have the highest risk of infection and complications from meningitis, they are not the only ones in danger of suffering from the disease, especially considering that they are thirteen serogroups of meningococcal bacteria that exist.
One of the least known in Spain, because it is not very prevalent, is the W135, which we are talking about today. Sophie Royce He was infected with this bacteria and now, a while later, he wanted to share the consequences of what happened to him to raise awareness of how dangerous the disease can be, and to explain why the vaccine can be important (in Spain it has started recommending this year in teenagers).
Sophie Royce's story
As we read in Mirror, Sophie is a 25-year-old nursing student from Surrey (United Kingdom), whose first symptom was a stomach upset that was accompanied by vomiting. Although this made him think that he had a temporary gastroenteritis, little by little they began to add more symptoms, such as a yellowing of the eyes and greater discomfort, and seeing that after 24 hours he did not improve he decided to go to the hospital.
There they saw that it could be something serious and was admitted to start the treatments, which were not enough to avoid the side effects of the infection. In fact, it got worse so that the doctors warned the family that he would not survive, and after infection, Sophie suffered a septicemia.
What is a sepsis
A septicemia, also known as sepsis, is the consequence of a serious infection. As synonyms, or to explain the word, there is talk of "blood poisoning" or "decomposition" or "rot" of it. It would be something like the toxic response that the body itself generates when it is the victim of a serious infection.
In Sophie's case, her body began to suffer in such a way that the organs began to fail and both the nose and the fingers and toes became purple and began to "die." After this event, the doctors had to amputate them while they waited for their terrible prognosis not to be fulfilled.
And got ahead
He was able to say goodbye to meningitis in 2013, 4 years ago, giving thanks for having survived after his family had already started to get the idea that they could lose it.
Since then, he has to live with the consequences of what happened day after day, considering the loss of his fingers as "a small price to pay in exchange for his life." He still suffers some recurrent infections in his feet, which he must continue to heal and take care of, and although it costs him a little to walk, he can do so with the help of some crutches while he states that won't let something like that ruin your future.
Sophie was treated at St. Thomas Hospital and considers the professionals who attended her to be heroes, who she never hesitates to mention to thank all they did for her. In fact, such gratitude is felt, that decided to study nursing And now he's doing internships at that same hospital.
In addition, from the diagnosis, the Meningitis Research Foundation He turned to help her, and she is doing the same with them, lending a hand to raise funds for the investigation and spreading her case to encourage young people to learn about the MenACWY vaccine to protect themselves and also prevent the spread of the bacteria to others.
The AEP recommended the vaccine a few weeks ago
Although in Spain it is unlikely that cases of W135 meningitis occur, it is not impossible if we take into account that there are people carrying the bacteria. That is why a few weeks ago, when publishing the vaccination calendar for 2017, the Spanish Association of Pediatrics recommended changing the meningitis C vaccine that is administered in adolescence by the vaccine that also protects from serogroups A, Y and W135 (MenACYW).
However, this is only a recommendation because this vaccine is for hospital use and, as long as it is, it cannot be part of any state vaccine card.
