Meningococcal deaths at 25 as high season lingers

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

Meningococcal disease has killed 25 people so far this year, the highest annual death toll since the epidemic began in 1991.

Since then, doctors have reported 4122 cases, including 184 deaths, and health experts expect the epidemic will rage on for another decade.

A preliminary trial of a vaccine tailor-made for New Zealand's strain of the disease is planned for next year, but widespread use of it is still several years away.

This year high rates of the disease are dragging on past the usual winter-spring peak, prompting health authorities to predict a record number of people will have been infected this year.

The number of cases reported normally declines after mid-October, but in the fortnight to November 16 32 new cases and one death were recorded.

They took the number of cases this year to 574, including 25 deaths.

The previous record year was 1997, when 613 cases were reported, including 24 deaths.

Health experts cannot account for this year's later season.

Health Ministry spokeswoman Jane O'Hallahan said meningococcal disease was unpredictable.

"The message to all New Zealanders, especially parents of small children, is to maintain their vigilance, as the epidemic shows no signs of abating," she said.

Common symptoms include fever, vomiting and lethargy and infants may refuse food and drink.

Some patients, especially those over 10, have a headache, and a rash may appear at a later stage in patients of any age.

Urgent medical attention is vital as the illness progresses swiftly, but can be cured by antibiotics if treated soon enough.

The bacterium which causes meningococcal disease lives in the throats and noses of up to a fifth of the population, but not all carriers become sick.

The bug can cause meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord) and septicaemia (blood poisoning). Some survivors lose limbs or large areas of flesh, or suffer brain damage.

The disease is linked to overcrowding and poverty and particularly strikes Maori and Pacific Island infants, although rates are growing among teenagers in many areas.

The bug is thought to be passed on by saliva, so doctors warn against sharing drink bottles, food, lipsticks and cigarettes.

Dr Teuila Percival, a paediatrician at the Kidz First hospital in South Auckland, said yesterday that most children with the disease responded well to treatment, but others only got worse after their arrival at hospital.

"They fall to bits in front of your eyes. They get sicker and sicker and sicker.

"It's a disease that, as a doctor, makes you feel helpless because these kids can die no matter what you do."

Dr Percival said this year reminded her of 1997: "We've had lots of cases and lots of very sick children."

The ministry in July signed a contract with California biotechnology company Chiron Corporation for a vaccine, which the company is producing with a Norwegian health institute.

A childhood infectious diseases specialist, Professor Diana Lennon, of Auckland University, said yesterday that great progress had been made towards starting clinical trials of the vaccine next year.

nzherald.co.nz/health