Improvements in the outcome of children with meningococcal disease

doi:10.1186/cc6140

Critical Care
Volume 11
Issue 5

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Commentary

Improvements in the outcome of children with meningococcal disease

Fauzia Paize¹ and Stephen D Playfor²

¹Institute of Child Health, University of Liverpool, Eaton Road, Liverpool, L12 2AP, UK

²Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Hospital Road, Pendlebury, Manchester, M27 4HA, UK

author email corresponding author email

Critical Care 2007, 11:172doi:10.1186/cc6140


Published:	29 October 2007

See related research by Maat et al., http://ccforum.com/content/11/5/R112

Abstract

Recent years have seen a marked reduction in the mortality of children with meningococcal disease in paediatric intensive care units (PICU); the reasons for this improvement are multifactorial. The mortality rates for critically ill children overall have improved and reasons for this are probably increased centralisation of PICU services and that fewer critically ill children are now looked after on adult units. Specific treatment pathways for sepsis have improved with the publication of clinical guidelines for children and initiatives such as the Surviving Sepsis Campaign. There is a continuing need to focus on the care delivered to children before reaching PICU and to minimise the morbidity suffered by survivors of this disease.