A baby has been admitted to Mater Dei Hospital with meningitis, the health authorities said.

They said the case was not acquired in the hospital setting and was not related to the previously reported death of a four-year-old child with bacterial meningitis.

A four-year-old boy died of bacterial meningitis on Sunday displaying symptoms a few days ago.

The health authorities said the two cases were caused by two different types of bacteria.

Meningitis, they said, could be caused by many different types of bacteria. The bacteria responsible in the case of the baby only affected babies in the first three months of their life. In Malta, an average of four cases are reported in newborn babies every year.

This type of infection is treatable with antibiotics, and no vaccine is available against this bacteria.

The best way to prevent such infections, the authorities said, was by always ensuring good hand hygiene, especially when in contact with newborn babies who were more vulnerable to infections.