Tropical Public Health Services have confirmed several cases of the dangerous disease in Yarrabah

Several young people have been treated for meningococcal in Yarrabah, Cairns, calling for health officials to urge the public to be on the lookout for signs of the dangerous disease.

Two young people have been admitted to hospital, one of which is in a serious condition, after presenting to Yarrabah Emergency department with meningococcal symptoms.

Prompting health officials to urge Far North Queenslanders, to be on the lookout for signs of the dangerous disease, which can include a rash, stiff neck, fever and vomiting.

Tropical Public Health Services Acting Director, Dr Paul Dugdale said GPs in Cairns, along with Cairns Emergency Department have been notified to lookout for further cases.

“Meningococcal disease is often a mild illness, sometimes asymptomatic but it can be lethal and a person with the disease through their bloodstream has about a 15 per cent chance of dying from the disease,” he said.

Health officials are urging the community to be on the lookout for signs of meningococcal disease. Dr Paul Dugdale, Acting Director Tropical Public Health Services (Cairns) and Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service CEO Sue Andrews Pictured. Photo: Emma Cam.

Meningococcal is a bacteria, typically spread through droplets from the nose or throat when coughing or sneezing, it can also be passed through saliva contact such as kissing.

“We are contact tracing and providing antibiotics to close contacts of the (identified) cases. We’re getting great co-operation from the community and all the families involved,” he said.

Symptoms can present within a few weeks after contracting the bacteria and is mostly common among children and young adults, particularly those who are not vaccinated.

“I think we can assume that there will be carriers in the community who are asymptomatic and that’s what we try and do contact tracing, so anyone who has been in contact, we give clearance antibiotics to so that they are no longer carriers,” Dr Dugdale said.

Health officials said the recent influenza outbreak in FNQ has made the community more susceptible to other infections such as meningococcal. Picture: Supplied.

Health officials also said they believed the two active cases were not vaccinated as they were not eligible for the vaccination program.

“Next week we’ll be moving on to an immunisation response to try and lift the immunisation levels to as much as we can for the community and to vaccinate some additional people that have been contacts of the cases,” Dr Dugdale said.

The Yarrabah, Gurriny community has seen a decline from 98 per cent to 80 per cent in vaccination rates among children within the last 12 month.

Dr Dugdale said while there is a current subsidised national immunisation program in Queensland, it does not extend to all children.

“The national immunisation program is subsidies for some children, however, in the case of this outbreak, we will go a bit wider and all vaccinations will be provided free,” he said.

Two young people have been treated for meningococcal disease at Yarrabah Emergency Department.One of these has been transferred to Townsville University Hospital. Picture: Supplied 

While meningococcal infections are relatively rare, Gurriny Yealamucka Health Services Director Dr Jason King said “overcrowding” in communities such as Yarrabah causes a significant issue in the spread of dangerous diseases.

“Overcrowded houses will always place the community at risk of totally preventable diseases and illnesses,” he said.

However, Dr King said despite the Public Health Team stepping up their vaccination efforts, the issues within high-risk communities continues to be the “chronic housing situation”.

“More than 4000 residents are squeezed into a little over 400 houses. We have raised this issues for more than 20 years and unfortunately this continues to be an ongoing issue,” he said.

 It was also reported a third person who showed symptoms of the disease 11 days ago, however, they have since ‘completely’ recovered after receiving treatment.

“The Public Health Unit is working very closely with the Gurriny Aboriginal Medical Service and Yarrabah Hospital on the response to the outbreak. The first case from 11 days ago is now completely well,” Dr Dugdale said.

Originally published as Tropical Public Health Services have confirmed several cases of the dangerous disease in Yarrabah