Education and prevention campaign

  ContraTimp (Against the clock)

The University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMF) of Craiova in partnership with the University of Craiova, the Public Health Directorate (DSP) Dolj and the Dolj County School Inspectorate invites you on Wednesday, 11 October 2023, from 14.00, in Aula Magna (Bdv. 1 Mai, nr. 66), where the first education and prevention campaign of the academic year 2023-2024, ContraTimp (Against the clock) - dedicated to raising awareness of the impact of meningococcal meningitis will kick off.

Participants: Prof. Dan Ionuț Gheonea - Rector UMF Craiova, Lect. Dr. Gindrovel Dumitra - Secretary General of the Romanian College of Physicians, Lect. Dr. Adina Turcu - Manager of the Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases and Pneumophthisiology "Victor Babeș" Craiova, Dr. Narciza Dinică - Head of Health Promotion Office DSP Dolj, Simona Ciulu - ISJ Dolj.

The specialists invite the population to go to the family doctors' offices, to get correct information from specialized sources and to consider the option of prevention.

Meningococcal disease is an under-diagnosed disease. The first symptoms are non-specific, which greatly delays the initiation of antibiotic therapy. It can take only a few hours from the first symptoms to death!

There are three risk groups: infants and young children, the elderly and adolescents. Of these, teenagers appear to be the most at risk and become the main source of transmission to other age groups. Transmission of meningococcal disease among young people is favoured by specific behaviours: socialising, sharing tools, kissing, etc.

The most common symptoms are: high fever, headache, stiff neck, rapid breathing, drowsiness, eye sensitivity to light, muscle or joint pain, convulsions, etc.

What are the consequences of infection? In addition to the problem of non-specific symptoms that delay treatment and hasten death, the infected person may be left with physical sequelae (there are cases of amputation of limbs), emotional sequelae, visual or hearing impairments, mental, motor, speech impairments and many others.

The ContraTimp (Against the clock) campaign is initiated by the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova and is part of the Meningococcal Meningitis Awareness Programme.