Meningococcal disease kills 10 people in the Hunter Region, as families plead for answers

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: A lethal disease that can kill within hours has left 10 people dead in the Hunter Region, more than three times as many people as anywhere else in NSW.

• Two new cases of meningococcal prompts medical alert
• Fifth person diagnosed with meningococcal in Queensland

A LETHAL disease that can kill within hours has left 10 people dead in the Hunter Region, more than three times as many people as anywhere else in NSW.

The deaths, which have been attributed to the potentially ­deadly bacterial infection meningococcal, have left health authorities baffled and desperate parents pleading for answers.

And local state MP Kate Washington is calling for an immediate investigation into why there are more cases in Hunter-New England than any other local health district.

Two-year-old Ryder Manulat woke up at his Port Stephens home with spots and within hours, died in his parents arms in hospital at 2.30pm. Picture: Facebook

The devastated family is begging the federal government to make all vaccines free.

Nationwide advocacy group Meningococcal Australia is ‘deeply concerned’ about the new figures. Picture: Facebook

Exclusive data from NSW Health reveals 10 people have died from meningococcal across the Hunter since 2010, while other regions have recorded fewer than three fatalities in the same period. Five people died from meningococcal in Hunter-New England from 2014-15, a time when no other deaths were recorded anywhere else in NSW.

This included two women who died within two days of each other and Port Stephens toddler Ryder Manulat, 2, who was ravaged by the disease in just six hours.

NSW Health Communicable Disease Branch director Vicky Sheppeard told The Daily Telegraph the higher numbers of meningococcal and subsequent deaths across Hunter-New England was “one of those things we can’t really ­explain”.

Dr Vicky Sheppeard, Director, Communicable Diseases Branch can’t explain why there are so many deaths in the Hunter Region. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Ms Sheppeard said she did not view the situation in the local health district as a problem.

“Meningococcal disease is ­incredibly rare and deaths from meningococcal disease occur in up to about 10 per cent of cases, so that is even more rare — one in a million,” she said.

“Looking at short periods of time or small areas there can be apparent clustering but we believe that is a random thing.”

RELATED: HEALTH FEARS AFTER NSW MENINGOCOCCAL INFECTION

Ms Sheppeard said there was no problem in the area with parents vaccinating their children against the C strain, the only vaccine for meningococcal listed on the National Immunisation register. But most deaths now occur from the B strain, which is only available on the private market.

Heartbroken Merran Manulat is calling on the federal government to make all the vaccines available free of charge.

Ms Manulat has been backed by nationwide advocacy group Meningococcal Australia, which says it is “deeply concerned” by the figures.

MP Kate Washington is calling for an inquiry into the worrying death toll. Picture: John Feder

University of NSW School of Public Health and Community Medicine senior lecturer Rob Menzies said he believes access to additional vaccines would prevent more deaths.

“Most of the cases that we get now are for other serogroups for which we are not using a vaccine,” Dr Menzies said.

The state opposition wants a specialist working party to determine why there is a “disproportionate” number of meningococcal cases in the region.

And Ms Washington said the government should issue a “general alert” to the community.

“If the Hunter has higher mortality rates for meningococcal disease than other local health districts then the state Health Minister should be investigating the cause,” she said.