A boy aged four died of bacterial meningitis last Sunday, pushing the health authorities to reassure parents whose children might have come into contact.

This kind of meningitis is very rare, causing one or two deaths every year.

Health authorities this morning handed out information leaflets to parents of the boy’s classmates and teachers, reassuring them that the disease does not spread.

There are several types of meningitis, some of which are more dangerous than others.

A Health Ministry spokesperson told The Malta Independent that the type of meningitis in this particular case is Bacterial Streptococcus pneumoniae.

“This was a rare type of invasive organism that lives in our nasal and pharyngeal passages and in this case it invaded the body,” the spokesperson said. 

“A thorough clean up was performed in the particular school during the weekend. Public health authorities went to the school to advise parents of other children attending the Kinder school as well as the teachers. All necessary measures were taken to avoid any spread of the disease.  It is to be noted that secondary cases are extremely rare. in fact no secondary cases of this particular bacterial meningitis were ever reported in Malta,” the spokesperson said.