Family meningitis scare timely reminder of fatal disease

11.45am

The admission of an entire family from Otira on the West Coast yesterday was a timely reminder of how infectious meningitis could be, health authorities said yesterday.

Eight members of the Fenwick family were flown by helicopter to Christchurch Hospital for treatment after symptoms first showed up in one child.

The family went home last night but Canterbury medical officer of health Mel Brieseman said the incident was a reminder of the havoc meningitis could wreak.

Nine-year-old William Fenwick of Otira was the first to take ill yesterday. He was taken by ambulance to Christchurch Hospital with his teacher.

Later the rest of the family was flown by helicopter to hospital for tests, after the father showed signs of a rash.

The hospital said the family and the teacher were later discharged.

Christchurch teenager Terrill Marie McKerrow died from meningitis last week. She was diagnosed just hours before her death.

"Meningococcal infection can be tremendously devastating," Dr Brieseman said. "It is a terrible, terrible disease."

New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of meningococcal infection. The disease can cause brain damage and is a leading cause of deafness. If not treated quickly and aggressively with antibiotics it is often fatal.

"Canterbury has more cases than the national average and this is the start of the (meningitis) season which will continue through to next month. Families have to be vigilant."

Dr Brieseman warned people to be vigilant about the killer disease.

Meanwhile, cases of the potentially fatal meningococcal disease hit a record high in Otago in the first half of this year.

The number of cases trebled from 17 in the year 2000 to 54 in 2001, Public Health South spokesman John Holmes said.

Meningitis had infected 23 Otago people and killed one of them by the end of last month.

Nationally the number of meningococcal disease victims has remained static, with 238 in the first six months of this year and last year.

The Government is spending $200 million on developing a vaccine for New Zealand's specific strain of the disease.

- NZPA

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