The 16-year-old American boy who lives in Kitzingen and contracted meningococcal disease earlier this month has been released from a German children’s hospital in Würzburg, Germany, the boy’s father said Wednesday.
German doctors released Christopher Screen on Friday, nearly two weeks after he fell ill.
Christopher’s parents admitted him March 5 with a fever and vomiting. Tests determined the teen had a rare Type C meningitis strain, the same strain that killed the wife of a Schweinfurt-based U.S. soldier in February. Doctors credited the parents’ quick actions with saving his life.
Kimberly Wesson, the Schweinfurt woman, died within two days of being stricken. Besides Wesson, two other Americans in Germany — a Kitzingen-based soldier and an Air Force investigator — have died so far this year from meningococcal disease, of which meningitis is one form.
“He’s doing a lot better. He’s gaining weight,” Audwin Screen, Christopher’s father and a civilian who works for the U.S. Army, said Wednesday.
Christopher, who attends a German school, is expected to return to class next month, providing he’s well enough, his father said.
The three earlier cases, which were not related to one another, brought a U.S. Army medical team from the U.S. to Germany to investigate. Its report is due to be completed this month or soon after.
