CHILDREN at a Dublin school are to donate £1 each to meningitis research after the death of one of their fellow students from the infection. Fourteen year old Jane Furlong died last Wednesday morning, just 24 hours after the onset of symptoms.
Students at Holy Faith secondary school in Clontarf are to donate the money to Temple Street children's hospital, where the teenager died. Her death brought the number of deaths from the infection in the Eastern Health Board area this year to eight.
Jane was the middle child in a family of three children from St Fintan's Road, Sutton. She had an older brother and a younger sister. A very large crowd, including school friends and teachers, attended her funeral.
A further case of meningitis was reported to the Eastern Health Board on Friday. A spokeswoman for the board said yesterday that there had been notification over the weekend of a further suspected case involving a child in a Dublin hospital.
So far this year there have been 79 cases of meningitis, with eight fatalities. This compares to 144 cases in 1996 and six deaths, with 152 cases in 1995 and 12 deaths. Dr Brian O'Herlihy, the EHB's director of public health, warned parents to be on the alert for symptoms of meningitis. If there were any doubts, a GP should be called, he said.
Meningococcal disease commonly initially resembles a flu like illness, with symptoms such as headache, vomiting, fever, widespread aches and pains and sore throat.
It progresses to more serious symptoms such as sensitivity to bright lights, neck stiffness, confusion, drowsiness and even coma. It is important, said Dr O'Herlihy, to watch out for the development of a rash.