Hib: Life-threatening for Young Children

It starts with a febrile infection in the nose and throat. But within hours or a few days, a high fever can develop. The infection can cause sinusitis, pneumonia, even meningitis or laryngitis. The round rod bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type b is the trigger.

Hib: infants and young children affected

Despite the name influenza, however, Hib is not a viral flu but a bacterial infection. The Hib pathogen lives exclusively in human mucous membranes of the nose, throat, and trachea and is transmitted via droplets when coughing or sneezing or contact.

The Haemophilus Influenzae bacterium, and this is the good news, is primarily a pathogen that normally only triggers an infectious disease when additional favoring factors such as immune deficiency are present. Less good: the exception is type b, which is surrounded by a protective capsule – it is feared as the main pathogen of meningitis and acute epiglottitis. It especially affects infants and young children.

Effects of Haemophilus influenzae type b.

For reasons that are still unknown, the bacterium sometimes enters the body through the mucous membrane. Doctors call this an invasive infection. Depending on where the bacterium has entered the body, it causes different infectious diseases. According to information from the Pediatrics Foundation, infants, whose immune systems are still virtually blind to capsule-bearing bacteria, and young children are especially at risk.

Epiglottitis

In epiglottitis, the patient initially has a normal cold caused by viruses. Haemophilus influenzae bacteria take advantage of the weakened immune system and enter the body from the throat and spread. The disease starts suddenly with fever, sore throat with purulent tonsillitis and shortness of breath. Due to the extremely strong and rapid swelling of the upper respiratory tract, life-threatening shortness of breath and even suffocation can occur very soon, leading to death in one in four affected children.

Treatment is with intubation or epiglottis incision; artificial respiration and antibiotics.

Meningitis

The pathogen can even enter the blood, even as part of a harmless viral infection of the respiratory tract. It travels through the bloodstream to different places in the body and can then settle either in the meninges or in the bones and joints.

In meningitis, fever, headache, sensitivity to light, nausea and vomiting are the main symptoms. Then the whole central nervous system is affected by the disease. When a child’s neck becomes stiff, meningitis is quite advanced. It must be treated immediately with antibiotics, yet about five percent of affected children die. About three percent of the children who recover retain permanent damage: this can be a loss of hearing or epilepsy.

Arthritis and osteomyelitis

The large joints, such as the knee or hip joints, can also be affected – acute arthritis means red, swollen joints that are hot and don’t move well and hurt. Even bones and bone marrow are affected – this is what doctors call osteomyelitis. At first, only fever, severe illness and chills indicate the inflammation. Later, the inflamed area also reddens externally, swells and hurts.

For a definite diagnosis, the bone is usually x-rayed. Treatment is again with antibiotics, and depending on the course of the disease, surgery may be necessary. Bone and joint inflammation can leave, among other things, growth disturbance of the bone even with early treatment with antibiotics, a joint can be destroyed or become stiff forever.