{"id":197938,"date":"2025-10-08T14:20:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/197938\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T14:20:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:20:26","slug":"warning-after-deadly-disease-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/197938\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning after deadly disease diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

An adult is recovering after they were hospitalised with the life-threatening meningococcal serogroup B disease.<\/p>\n

WA Health confirmed it was the 11th case reported in the state this year, following 13 cases and one death in 2024.<\/p>\n

Authorities said the deadly disease was caused by a bacterial infection of the blood, or membranes that line the spinal cord and brain, and occasionally the throat, lungs or large joints.<\/p>\n

A WA Health spokesman said meningococcal bacteria were not easily spread from person-to-person.<\/p>\n

\"Meningococcal<\/p>\n

Meningococcal disease symptoms may appear as a spotty red-purple rash that looks like small bleeding points beneath the skin or bruises. Picture: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bacterium is present in droplets discharged from the nose and throat when coughing or sneezing but is not spread by saliva and does not survive more than a few seconds in the environment,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeningococcal bacteria are carried harmlessly in the back of the nose and throat by about 10-20 per cent of the population at any one time.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery rarely, the bacteria invade the bloodstream or tissues and cause serious infections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Symptoms may appear as a spotty red-purple rash that looks like small bleeding points beneath the skin or bruises.<\/p>\n

Symptoms of invasive meningococcal disease may include high fever, chills, headache, neck stiffness, nausea and vomiting, drowsiness, confusion, and severe muscle and joint pains.<\/p>\n

Young children may not complain of symptoms, so fever, pale or blotchy complexion, vomiting, lethargy (inactivity), poor feeding and rash are important signs.<\/p>\n

\"Vaccines<\/p>\n

Vaccines are available and are free to some age groups. Picture: CDC<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough meningococcal infection is treatable with antibiotics, it can progress very rapidly, so it is important that anyone with these symptoms seek medical attention urgently,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith appropriate treatment, most people with the disease recover, although around five to 10 per cent may result in death and around 15 per cent may experience long-term complications such as hearing loss, limb amputations or brain damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorities said there were two types of meningococcal vaccine available: one to protect against four serogroups of the meningococcal disease (serogroups A, C, W and Y) and the other protects against serogroup B.<\/p>\n

The MenACWY vaccine is free to all children at 12 months of age, and offered to all Year 10 students, with a free catch-up program for adolescents aged 15 to 19 years old.<\/p>\n

The MenACWY vaccine is also offered free to Aboriginal children aged from six weeks to 12 months old and the meningococcal B vaccine is free for all Aboriginal children aged up to two years old.<\/p>\n

Both these vaccines are also free for people of all ages with certain medical risk conditions. People not eligible for free vaccines can request them through their immunisation provider for a fee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An adult is recovering after they were hospitalised with the life-threatening meningococcal serogroup B disease. WA Health confirmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,119105,137,500,124194,124195,124196,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-197938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bacterial-infection","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-meningococcal","14":"tag-meningococcal-bacteria","15":"tag-meningococcal-infection","16":"tag-wa-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}