Meningitis surge overturns prediction

5.00pm

There has been a surge in meningitis cases in Northland despite predictions that the region would see a six-year low this year in the number of reported cases.

Eighteen cases have been reported this year, five more than for the same time last year.

Five of the cases came in last month alone. The latest was a two-year-old child from the mid-north who had been admitted to Whangarei Hospital on Friday.

The child has recovered and is expected to return home this week.

Northland Health medical officer of health Jonathan Jarman said the surge in reported cases had cast doubt on a predicted drop in cases this year.

The prediction was based on the low number of cases reported earlier in the year, when entire months had passed without a single report of the disease, he said.

However, the number of cases had jumped significantly over the past three months and the worst months for the disease, traditionally over winter, were still to come.

Northland has one of the highest rates of meningitis in the country. There have been 265 reported cases of the disease in Northland since the epidemic started in 1991.

Eleven people in the region have died from the disease.

However, Dr Jarman said he expected the development of a vaccine against the group B strain of meningococcal disease would make a big difference. The vaccine should be ready to administer by about July next year, he said.

Other notifiable diseases had been greatly reduced through vaccination. "We're hoping the same could happen for meningitis."

Dr Jarman said the key to combating meningitis was early intervention and it was vitally important that people with symptoms of the disease were taken to the doctor as quickly as possible.

A soldier seriously ill with meningitis in Palmerston North Hospital was "improving", a hospital spokesman today.

Dennis Geddis told NZPA the recruit, admitted to hospital on Thursday, was "still in a serious condition but improving".

The Director of Public Health, Dr Colin Tukuitonga, said there had been about 5000 cases of all strains of meningococcal disease in New Zealand, resulting in 203 deaths, since 1991.

For the period up to June 20 this year, there have been 202 cases of meningococcal disease but until last week there had been no deaths.

For the same period in 2002, there had been 198 cases and seven deaths.

Without a vaccine for strain B (which accounts for 90 per cent of all meningococcal cases in New Zealand) the epidemic was expected to continue for at least another 10 years, Dr Tukuitonga said.

A vaccine is currently being trialled in the Auckland area by Auckland University, and a pilot programme may be introduced in south Auckland early next year followed by a nationwide roll-out.

Although anyone can contract meningococcal disease, children and young adults are most at risk, he said.

High awareness of the disease and its symptoms has contributed to a low death rate compared to other countries.

Meningococcal disease has two main forms. Meningococcal meningitis is an infection of the brain and kills up to five per cent of sufferers. Meningococcal septicaemia infects the blood and is fatal in up to 15 per cent of cases.

Meningitis can appear to be the flu in early stages, but it quickly becomes worse.

Symptoms, particularly in children, can include fever, refusing food and drink, being sleepy and hard to wake, a rash or spots, vomiting, aching muscles, a headache and stiff neck.

- NZPA, NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)