A 19-YEAR-OLD student suspected of contracting swine flu died from a rare form of meningitis, an inquest in Galway heard yesterday.
Coroner Dr Ciaran McLoughlin said it was “particularly unfortunate and sad” after hearing how Teresa Leonard from Tooreeny, Moycullen, Co Galway, had been vaccinated for meningitis but that there was no vaccination for the rare form which led to her death.
Dr McLoughlin called for third-level colleges to have a doctor available on call for students after hearing that an appointment was necessary for the 6,500 students at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) to see a doctor.
The inquest was told the student had gone home from GMIT on September 22nd last year after visiting a nurse in the college and being told that she probably had contracted swine flu, which was rife at the time and which had affected several students.
However, her condition deteriorated during the evening. She was seen at home by Dr Sean Grimes, a GP in Moycullen, who noted there was no evidence of a rash or other symptoms to suggest meningitis. In the early hours of the following morning Ms Leonard’s condition got worse and she asked to be taken to University Hospital Galway.
She was alert when admitted to the hospital after 4am and an initial scan suggested Ms Leonard had suffered a brain haemorrhage but it was subsequently confirmed that she had a rare form of meningitis, Meningococcal septicaemia, for which there is no vaccination.
Her condition deteriorated and she died that evening.
Dr McLoughlin expressed his deepest sympathy to the student’s parents and sisters.