Toronto doctors are treating a toddler with powerful antibiotics not usually used on children as they try to cure a case of meningitis caused by a drug-resistant strain of bacteria.
The child was considered to be quite ill Wednesday night and that condition hadn't changed Thursday morning, doctors said.
"They're now treating the child with antibiotics for adults, not normally recommended for children, because all of the other antibiotics did not work," the CBC's Nil Koksal said Thursday morning, reporting from Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.
The child's meningitis was caused by a variant of the 19A strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, which is resistant to the antibiotic ceftriaxon, commonly used to treat bacterial meningitis in children.
The child is now being treated with levofloxicin, a more powerful antibiotic typically given to adults.
"It is unsettling," Dr. Upton Allen, the head of infectious diseases at the hospital, told the Canadian Press on Wednesday night. "This is a very resistant strain, an unusual occurrence."
"The child is still quite ill. We still have a far way to go as far as treatment."
Doctors have provided few details about the toddler, except to say that the child had been healthy and properly vaccinated prior to getting sick, and had not travelled outside the Toronto area. Doctors said the child came in contact with the bacteria in the community, not in the hospital.
Parents shouldn't be alarmed, doctors say, but should watch for persistent ear infections in children who are not normally prone to them.
The bacteria is spread through direct contact with an infected person's saliva and normally causes ear infections, but can also cause more serious ailments like pneumonia, blood infections and meningitis.
This strain of bacteria first appeared in Toronto in 2004, but has not caused meningitis before.
'This is now a very rare disease'
Dr. Allison McGreer, the director of infection control at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, said bacterial meningitis is a serious disease, but it is not common.
"This is now a very rare disease, thanks in part to the new vaccines we have, so you should not be worried about your child getting bacterial meningitis on a day-to-day basis," she told CBC News on Thursday morning.
"In fact, in Toronto now, your child is now more likely to die of influenza than bacterial meningitis."
She said parents can protect their children by making sure they get their vaccines on time, and making sure they wash their hands frequently.
"That's advice your mother always gave you, and it remains as true as always," she said.
The 19A strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria is not covered by the vaccines children currently get, although a new vaccine that covers 13 strains, including 19A, is being tested in several countries including Canada.
Meningitis is an infection of the fluid that surrounds the spinal cord and brain, and can affect the lining of the brain or cause a blood infection.
The symptoms are flu-like and include fever, severe headache, stiff neck, nausea, sleeplessness, sensitivity to bright lights and respiratory infection. They also include a reddish-purple bruise-like rash.
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
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