A nine-year-old girl died from suspected meningitis in Northern Ireland, it emerged last night.
The girl died yesterday after she was taken ill on Wednesday in Downpatrick, Co Down. She was treated in the Royal Hospital in Belfast.
A spokesman for the Public Health Agency confirmed a child died from suspected meningococcal septicaemia - a form of meningitis. He said the risk to other people was very low.
Dr Philip Donaghy, a consultant in communicable disease control with the agency, added: “Members of the child’s family had been provided with antibiotics to prevent any further spread of the infection."
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Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord.