A WA child has died from meningococcal disease, while a teen has been separately diagnosed. Source: AAP
A YOUNG child has died after contracting meningococcal disease while a teenager is recovering in a West Australian hospital after being separately diagnosed with the illness.
THE child died from the infection at the weekend, while the unrelated teenager was making a “good recovery”, the WA Health Department said on Tuesday.
Close contacts have been informed with some given antibiotics to minimise the chance of the bacteria spreading. Meningococcal disease is an uncommon, life-threatening illness caused by a bacterial infection of the blood or membranes that line the spinal cord and brain. Symptoms include fever, chills, headaches, neck stiffness, nausea and vomiting, drowsiness, confusion, severe muscle and joint pain, and sometimes a rash. The department said the incidence of meningococcal disease had dropped in WA from 86 cases in 2000 to about 20 cases a year. There were 18 cases in 2013.