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The first line of defence

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Raquel de BritoThe West Australian
Elise Alexander and her daughter Emelie, 4. Picture. Iain Gillespie
Camera IconElise Alexander and her daughter Emelie, 4. Picture. Iain Gillespie Credit: Picture. Iain Gillespie

It is enough to strike fear into the heart of any parent — a rapidly progressive disease that can kill within 24 hours of the first symptoms showing.

To further add to this fear, meningococcal disease has symptoms that can be difficult to recognise because of their similarities to many viral infections.

The strongest safeguard against the potentially fatal disease is prevention, and research by the Telethon Kids Institute has helped make immunisation more readily available to the age groups most at risk.

The research by the Vaccine Trials Group at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, based at the Institute, was used to inform the WA Health Department on the effectiveness and safety of the MenACWY vaccine.

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This included recent studies involving babies 12 months of age.

“The evidence also supported a subsequent recommendation to include the MenACWY vaccine on the National Immunisation Program (NIP) for all Australian children,” Professor Peter Richmond, who heads the Vaccine Trials Group, says.

The State Government’s move to provide free catch-up MenACWY vaccinations throughout 2018 for WA children aged one to four years was an opportunity for Osborne Park mother Elise Alexander to protect her daughter Emelie, 4, against the disease.

“The symptom presentation isn’t always consistent and it isn’t always at onset so I think that was quite scary,” she says.

Professor Peter Richmond says changes to the NIP announced on July 1 mean babies will now receive the meningococcal ACWY vaccine at 12 months of age.

This replaces the meningococcal C vaccine that was previously given at that age.

The W strain was responsible for half the 46 cases reported in WA last year.

“Children under five, and 15 to 25-year-olds are the age groups at highest risk groups for meningococcal disease, particularly the W strain, so WA is still giving the vaccine to teenagers,” Professor Richmond says.

“It is also being considered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee so that might be a future change to the national program,” he adds.

The second change to the NIP, announced on July 1, was the maternal pertussis vaccine during pregnancy to prevent young babies from getting whooping cough before they are old enough to be immunised. This had previously been introduced by a number of States since 2015.

The NIP has also changed the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine schedule.

“It had previously been given at two, four and six months of age but what we have found in Australia is that as children get older, so sort of over 18 months, they were starting to get what we call vaccine failures or breakthrough cases so they were developing serious infections, mostly pneumonia and an infection of the lining of the lung that’s called empyema,” Professor Richmond explains.

“By giving the booster dose of the vaccine at 12 months, you actually get longer lasting immunity.”

Changes to the National Immunisation Program:

  • Meningococcal ACWY vaccine will replace the meningococcal C vaccine given at 12 months of age.
  • A maternal pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine is now available during pregnancy.
  • The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine schedule has changed from two, four and six months of age to two, four and 12 months of age.

Meningococcal disease quick facts

Symptoms in babies include:

  • fever
  • rapid breathing or panting
  • vomiting or difficulty feeding
  • irritability
  • lethargy or difficult to wake
  • unusual crying or moaning
  • rash

Symptoms in older children and adults include:

  • fever
  • headache
  • vomiting and diarrhoea
  • neck stiffness
  • muscle or joint pains
  • drowsiness or confusion

These symptoms may be accompanied by the appearance of a spotty red-purple rash that looks like small bleeding points beneath the skin. It is important to get this type of rash checked by your doctor promptly.

Children under five years, teenagers and young adults are most at risk of contracting meningococcal disease.

Vaccination against meningococcus is the only effective way of protecting your children against meningococcal disease.

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