Meningococcal death in Kaikohe

Public health nurse Sue Baker vaccinating a 13-year-old for meningococcal disease in 2018. Photo / John Stone

A six-year-old boy's death after contracting meningococcal disease has prompted pleas for more essential health services in the community.

The boy, from the Kaikohe area, was sent home from school on February 12. He was subsequently admitted to Bay of Islands Hospital, and later to Whangārei Hospital, where he died the following day.

Northland Medical Officer of Health Dr Catherine Jackson wrote to the school and parents on February 13, indicating that the cause of the boy's illness was unconfirmed but suspected to be meningococcal, adding that while the risk of another case was small, parents should be aware of symptoms of the disease.

They included fever, headache, nausea, aversion to light, neck stiffness (late symptom) and purple/dark blue rashes (late symptom).

Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi's Te Ropu Poa said she had learned of the boy's death via a school Facebook notice.

"We should have been contacted immediately. "(It's) far too casual for my liking," she said, adding that DHB staff had been apologetic. However, she believed the experience reflected current issues with the health sector regarding how a lack of co-ordination prevented progress.

"It's a case-by-case approach rather than asking how well is your community, and if they're not well, how are people accessing our primary care services," she said.

"I have to speak up for whānau who know very little about how to access good-quality health services, and we all have to contribute and work better together, so we can take care of our whānau better."

Poa and her staff had been visiting eight local schools three times a week to swab throats, but this had been reduced, removing crucial opportunities for health staff to kōrero with teachers and tamariki to identify any other health issues.

"Covid seems to take over everything, and I keep trying to remind everyone that it's not just Covid here," she said.

With another Hokianga child hospitalised recently with rheumatic fever, it was critical to fix those issues before more whānau suffered.

Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi was currently working with the boy's whānau, who Poa described as "grieving but resilient."

Meanwhile Jackson said the boy's death (the first in Northland in more than two years) highlighted the "unfortunate truth" that even with appropriate treatment, meningococcal infections were fatal in 5 to 10 per cent of cases.

Broadway Health GP Dr Taco Kistemaker said the boy's death was very unfortunate, but he did not believe there was an immediate risk to the community.

"After one case, I don't think we should play to any panic," he said, although he did not downplay the very real danger meningococcal disease posed.