AN 18 year old student died of meningitis at the weekend. Mr Eamon Kelly, a first year student at Galway Regional College, was taken ill at his home outside Galway city on Saturday.
He was rushed to University College Hospital in the city and treated in the intensive care unit. A hospital spokeswoman confirmed he died shortly afterwards.
The most recent cases of meningitis in Galway occurred last month when two pupils from the same primary school, Bushy Park National School, were treated successfully at the University hospital for a strain of meningococcal septicaemia (blood poisoning).
An infant boy died of suspected meningitis in Cork in January. In the Eastern Health Board region which covers Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare, four people died in January from meningitis and there were 17 confirmed cases. The number of deaths for the month was one less than for all of 1996 in the area.
A recent report showed there was a three fold increase in cases of bacterial meningitis, including meningococcal septicaemia, reported in the past five years. The number of cases jumped from 131 in 1990 to 382 in 1995.
The incidence of infection in Ireland is 6.9 per 100,000 compared to three per 100,000 in Britain.