A WOMAN has died on the Sunshine Coast after contracting meningococcal disease.
The Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service is expected to release more information this morning.
Public health experts will contact family members and others who came in close contact with the woman, who was aged in her late 30s, to ensure no one else has contracted the disease.
The woman died in hospital on the weekend, Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service public health physician Dr Andrew Langley said.
He said the woman’s death is ‘not known to be linked’ to any other cases of meningococcal.
This is the first case of the deadly disease on the Sunshine Coast this year while last year the public health unit was notified of six cases.
Dr Langley said only ‘very close contacts’, like family members, of the woman would need antibiotics.
“These people have a small risk of developing the disease. All other contacts are at much lower risk and need only information about the early symptoms so they can seek urgent medical advice in the unlikely situation where they develop symptoms.”
“At any given time, meningococcal bacteria are carried harmlessly at the back of the throat or in the nose in about 10% of the community. Although most people who have these bacteria in their throat or nose remain quite well, they are able to spread the bacteria to others, and a few of these people may subsequently become ill.”