A healthy 16-year-old boy, Adam Tolfree, went to bed fit and healthy but died hours after waking up due to blood poisoning caused by meningococcal bacteria. Adam was coughing and vomiting blood after waking up which worried his family and rushed him to a hospital. Hospital staff ran tests which showed that the teen's blood was teeming with bacteria.
Adam's family and friends could not believe what had just happened to him. His family most especially is shattered by his untimely passing as they could not believe his sudden and unexpected death. His parents claim that he looked happy and healthy the night before he died.
Septicemia is identified as the killer of the previously healthy teen. In simple terms, it means that the blood has been poisoned by the incredibly large number of bacteria that have leaked out from somewhere in his body. The hospital suspects that the bacteria was meningococcal in origin, the Mirror Online reports.
Meningococcal bacteria is one of the most common causes of septicemia with a 10 percent to 20 percent mortality rate. It is usually found in underdeveloped or developing country and is easily preventable by a vaccine. Adam's family claims that he had been fully vaccinated and that they were up to date with vaccinations especially since they have lived both in Zambia and the US previously.
The symptoms that were observed in Adam were high fever and rashes that will not go away. These are all similar to the symptoms observed in other children who have previously died due to the same infection. Septicemia affects 150,000 people every year which results to death in 44,000 of those affected, over 1,000 of those are children, the Daily Mail says.
Due to the severity and urgency of this medical condition, doctors are now urging health workers working in the ER to include sepsis in their initial diagnosis. The deadly condition escalates quickly but with immediate emergency care it can be treated with antibiotics. With the surge of flu in the northern hemisphere, people are required to be more cautious and vigilant with diseases, including ones caused by meningococcal bacteria.
