Editorial: Widen meningococcal disease warnings

The statistics relating to meningococcal disease make depressing reading. So far this year it has killed 25 people, the highest annual death toll since the epidemic began 10 years ago. To make matters worse, the disease is lingering past its usual winter-spring peak, prompting predictions that a record number of people will be infected before the end of the year.

Fully a decade after meningococcal disease first took hold, and after 184 deaths, it seems the deadly disease is making a mockery of modern medicine. Why, it might reasonably be asked, has the epidemic not been brought under control?

Health authorities point to the nature of the disease, those most at risk and the need to develop a vaccine tailor-made for New Zealand's strain. For parents, it can be hard at first to tell the disease from other feverish illnesses. But it may rapidly get worse because children have not built up a natural immunity. Antibiotics offer a cure but sick children must be got to a doctor quickly.

The disease is also linked to overcrowding and poverty, and particularly strikes Maori and Pacific Island children. One of the chief aims of Housing New Zealand renovations to properties in South Auckland is to reduce the high rate of the disease there. But as useful as such projects are, the most effective remedy undoubtedly lies in a tailor-made vaccine. That vaccine, however, is still being tested and will not be available for widespread use for several years.

Given that delay, health authorities should be doing more to warn of the symptoms and dangers of meningococcal disease, and to stress the need for vigilance and early treatment. To highlight, for example, the fact that shared drink bottles are a common means of passing on the bug.

The social cost of the disease has been estimated at $75 million a year, including hospital costs of $29 million. A public health campaign would cost a fraction of that.

nzherald.co.nz/health