Sydney boy with COVID-19 dies from pneumococcal meningitis

A 15-year-old boy, who tested positive for COVID-19, has died in a Sydney hospital after he was admitted with the life-threatening bacterial infection pneumococcal meningitis.

Osama Suduh was being treated at Sydney's Children's Hospital at Randwick.

A statement released by the hospital said that although the teenager was COVID-positive, this was not the reason for his admission and was not his cause of death.

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The patient was unvaccinated for COVID-19 but was up-to-date with his routine childhood vaccinations, the hospital said.

The pneumococcal vaccine is on the immunisation schedule for children.

"Sydney Children's Hospitals Network extends our sincere condolences to his family at this heartbreaking time," the hospital said.

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant described the young boy's death as tragic, but reiterated that he did not die from COVID-19.

"There was a young boy tragically, a 15-year-old from south-western Sydney died at the Sydney Children's Hospital," she said today.

"I can confirm that he died from pneumococcal meningitis and he was a COVID-positive case. He had been vaccinated against pneumococcal disease as a child."

Pneumococcal meningitis is an infection of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord with the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae.

It can lead to patients slipping into a coma and death.

Photos and messages of support for the teenager were posted on the Facebook page Request Dua, where prayers are offered up for the sick.

"The doctors have told us that his life support will be turned off tomro [sic] morning," a post on Saturday, accompanied by photographs of the teenager, reads.

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