A three-month-old baby with meningitis was admitted to Nicosia’s Makarios hospital in a serious condition on Wednesday, marking the fourth case this year.

The infant had been transferred from Famagusta to Nicosia in the morning where it remains under medical supervision.

In February, a 16-year-old girl and another infant had been hospitalised due to meningitis and in April a third child, a 17-year-old boy, died due to serious complications of bacterial meningitis after being treated in the intensive care unit in Nicosia general hospital.

In a statement issued mid-March, the health ministry had called on those in contact with patients to strictly adhere to personal hygiene rules, such as covering the nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, regular washing of hands and to avoid the shared use of dishes, glasses, cutlery and toothbrushes.

The ministry pointed to the types of vaccines against meningococcus, one being the tetravalent conjugate vaccine (MenACWY), which is included in the national vaccination programme for free by a paediatrician, as well as the group B protein vaccine (MenB-4C or MenB-FHbp) for protection.

Since meningococcal disease was transmitted through droplets of respiratory secretions during close interpersonal contact, the ministry stated that it mostly affected people who lived in the same house as patients, especially children, or those who stay in the same room such as offices of classrooms over a longer period of the day.