Plunket book saved baby from killer disease

By REBECCA WALSH, health reporter

Auckland mother Marie Dawson credits a Plunket book for saving her son Tristan from meningococcal disease.

The first-time mum took her 5-week-old to the GP after he developed a fever and became lethargic. The doctor gave him some paracetamol, sent her home and told her to keep his fluids up.

But not long after returning home she noticed a rash spreading over his face, chest, head and arms.

In a panic she searched desperately through the Plunket book, only to discover the symptoms matched those listed for meningococcal disease - a disease she knew nothing about.

"Had I left it another half an hour, he might not have made it or be severely damaged.

"If he was left at home overnight we would have found him dead," she said.

Tristan spent the next three months in Starship children's hospital battling meningococcal disease.

"If you were there and saw how he looked. He looked like a big blown-up doll, it was like a 5-week-old turning into an 18-month-old. He was filled with morphine and antibiotics," she said.

"The screaming he did, the pain from his lungs. I was like 'do something for him, put him at ease'. It was two days like that."

Once they returned home there was nursing and bandaging and then six months of physiotherapy.

Tristan is now 8 but reminders of his brush with meningococcal disease remain.

For a start, there are the physical scars. He is missing two fingertips from his left hand and the tip of the big toe on his left foot, has a scar on his face from a huge blister and another round his knee cap where surgeons operated after he got septicaemia.

At some stage surgeons will operate to straighten one of his fingers.

"It's hard to use the recorder. I can't really play it with my left hand," the Birkenhead Primary pupil said. "And I'm not really good on my left leg, that's why I can't play rugby. Sometimes I just get tired easily and sometimes my leg gives way."

Tristan sticks to long or three-quarter length pants most of the time but if anyone asks what happened to him he tells them the truth.

Still, the physical scars are not the only reminder.

Tristan is about two years behind in his schooling and has trouble retaining information. He receives some one-on-one teaching and extra help with reading.

Mrs Dawson described Tristan as a "loveable, ordinary kid who will misbehave" but said his immune system was not robust. He had to go to hospital after contracting chickenpox at 3 1/2 and pneumonia when he was 5. He doesn't shake off colds as well as his sister Kaitlyn, 4.

Now when the children have a fever Mrs Dawson takes them straight to the doctor - "I don't care what it is, I know it's a bit over the top."

Both children were vaccinated against meningococcal C when the family lived in England and Mrs Dawson supports the introduction of a vaccine against meningococcal B.

The vaccination timetable

In a few weeks, a mass vaccination programme of 1.15 million young New Zealanders begins.

The Government's aim is to immunise everyone under the age of 20 against the deadly meningococcal disease, which has killed 220 children and adults and made more than 5400 people sick since 1991.

Next Monday: Children under five or not at school can start getting the vaccine from GPs, Plunket and other health services. Schoolchildren in high-risk areas of South and East Auckland take immunisation consent forms home to their parents.

August 2: Vaccination begins in these areas and gradually spreads to cover schoolchildren across Auckland and then the rest of the country.

Next February: The campaign expands to those under 20 and not at school in Auckland.