Teenager Contracts Deadly Meningococcal Disease Amid Outbreak Across Australia

A 15-year-old girl has become the latest person to contract the deadly meningococcal disease amid an outbreak across Australia.

It was reported that the Year Nine Blackwood High student, from Adelaide Hills was admitted for treatment at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital on Saturday after she fell ill.

The schoolgirl’s diagnosis comes after five cases of the disease were reported in just one week in New South Wales in August, with NSW Health raising the alarm of a meningococcoal outbreak.

The Advertiser reported that two football players from the Unley Jets in Adelaide also fell victim to the highly infectious disease as they were admitted to hospital last month.

However, it’s understood that both football players are recovering well, and no family members contracted the disease.

Meningococcal disease comes from a bacterium carried in the nose and throat, and can be spread when an infected person coughs, sneezes or even merely talking to another person.

Symptoms of meningococcal disease include headache, fever, vomiting, neck stiffness, drowsiness, confusion, and tiny red or purple spots which can spread across the skin and can look like bruises.

Around 5-10% of cases that have been reported in Australia are fatal.

NSW Health Director of Communicable Diseases, Dr Vicky Sheppeard, said the disease was most prevalent during the late winter and early spring season.

Health authorities have urged people to be aware of the symptoms and stay vigilant.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk