Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday that Nationals prospect Yewri Guillen died from a brain infection, but one not caused by bacterial meningitis as originally diagnosed.
Instead, a severe sinus infection made its way into Guillen’s brain. The 18-year-old Dominican died on April 14, about four days after displaying serious symptoms. He was a shortstop at the organization’s Dominican Republic baseball academy in Boca Chica – one of 16 international players signed to contracts in February. Guillen was expected to join one of Washington’s minor-league teams in the United States this summer.
Major League Baseball’s medical advisory committee also asserted that the Nats’ medical staff properly handled Guillen’s care, including taking steps to prevent the spread of bacterial meningitis among academy players and staff when it was still believed that was the cause of death. Following Guillen’s death the committee recommended that all players, coaches and staff at MLB academies in the Dominican have a meningitis vaccination made available to them. The Dominican Republic Ministry of Health has since provided those vaccinations, according to a statement from MLB.
“Following Mr. Guillen’s passing, the Medical Advisory Committee met and recommended that all Dominican Republic Academy personnel, including players and clubhouse staff, be offered a meningitis vaccination, even though it was determined that meningitis did not cause Guillen’s illness,” MLB medical director Dr. Gary Green said in a statement. “As a result, all players and club personnel that stay overnight at all Club Academies in the Dominican Republic have had a meningitis vaccination administered to them.”
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