DHB defends its timing

It was truly tragic that three people in Northland had lost their lives to meningococcal disease, a Northland DHB spokesman said last week, but assertions that it should have warned the public earlier were rejected.

Three Northlanders have died since an in-house memo was sent to Northland hospital staff in May, warning them to be vigilant. The memo, from clinical microbiologist Dr David Hammer, reportedly warned staff to have their own young children immunised with one of the newer vaccines..

“In May we had two unrelated adult cases of MenW, which warranted close monitoring. Without definite information it was not appropriate to alarm the community,” a DHB spokesman said last week, however.

“This is a new strain of meningococcus, that can present like any form of infection, and appears randomly for no apparent reason.”

Dr David Hammer had “proactively” raised awareness amongst GPs and secondary care clinicians, asking them to

be vigilant because the presentation of meningococcus W tended to be more atypical than that of other strains.

“We have continued surveillance and monitored the disease incidence, as is good public health practice, and we are in the process of reviewing some historical epidemiological data on invasive meningococcal disease in the hope that this will inform future decisions about our response,” the spokesman added.”

The Public Health team and Dr Hammer were in continuous dialogue with the Ministry of Health regarding this disease,

and last week attended a Technical Advisory Group meeting hosted by the ministry to start work on ways to reduce meningococcal disease rates across the country. The DHB would be guided by the ministry.

Last week the ministry warned all GPs and emergency departments about concerns over the rising number of cases nationally, and the need to give antibiotics without delay if the potentially fatal disease was suspected. It also recommended that the wider public should boost their knowledge of the disease. t