Baby dies of meningococcal in Darwin hospital

A child in the Northern Territory has died after contracting meningococcal B.

The baby, understood to be under six months old, was hospitalised earlier this month and today the Department of Health announced the infant had passed away.

All close contacts of the child were contacted after the child fell ill and provided clearance antibiotics to prevent further transmission.

This year, there have been five meningococcal cases in the NT this year, and four of them were W strain.

The cases occurred in both the Top End and Central Australia and none of them were linked, according to the Centre for Disease Control.

Meningococcal is a rare disease, but can be very serious and people can deteriorate very quickly.

After an outbreak of the W strain in 2018, the NT Government made the meningococcal ACWY vaccine available for free for all people aged one to 19 years in the NT.

The vaccine for meningococcal B is only available on the private market for people from six weeks of age.

Toddler Skylar Lawrence died in hospital after contracting the disease in 2017 and her parents have been campaigning for the vaccine to be made available for free ever since.