On vaccines: This is opisthotonos. In a child it is often accompanied by high-pitched screams of intense pain. Combined with high fever, it may be a sign of infection and inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. This is called meningitis.
I have lost patients to meningitis early in my career. Both were 15 month old boys, one of whom was found expired in his crib in this position. Both children died of Hemophilus Influenza B, a particularly nasty bacteria that can result in overwhelming and fatal infection in a matter of hours.
As a young Pediatrician, if a parent called me at two in the morning with an inconsolably screaming infant with 104 fever, I would tell them to call an ambulance, and I would meet them at the hospital. We would do blood and urine tests, and a spinal tap.
By the grace of G-d, the majority of those children did well. But some died of H. Flu B meningitis.The memory of the bereft parents and families, and how I felt after the futile efforts to save those kids will be seared into my memory forever.
But we don’t see H. Flu B anymore because we have had a vaccine to protect children since the late 80’s.
Vaccines work. Take it from this old war-horse Pediatrician. They work.