Boy dies of meningitis at UMC

Single Sign-On: You can use Facebook account to log in to LasVegasSun.com. (We will use your first and last name from your profile.)
Trusted Commenting: Facebook connected users automatically become trusted commenters.

Thursday, July 1, 2004 | 9:44 a.m.

A 14-year-old Arizona boy died June 27 at University Medical Center from bacterial meningitis, the boy's father said today.

Christiaan Irvin of Phoenix died Sunday after being transferred to University Medical Center. Doctors there told his father he died from bacterial meningitis, his father said.

The Clark County coroner's office could not confirm the cause of death, and the Clark County Health District is not investigating, a spokeswoman said.

The boy had fallen ill Friday morning. What had started as a serious sinus infection had spread quickly to his brain, Edward Irvin, the boy's father, said. Christiaan died only two days later.

"It happened so fast, it was unreal," Edward Irvin said this morning from his home in Phoenix.

Jennifer Sizemore, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Health District, could not confirm the cause of Christiaan's death.