Report: Meningococcal Infection Prevalence and Immunization, Tasmania

This report provides an overview of meningococcal infection, specifically meningococcal meningitis, and its prevalence in Tasmania, Australia. It highlights the contagious nature of the infection and the importance of immunization coverage to reduce its spread, particularly among the Aboriginal population. The report discusses the prevalence rates, risk factors such as age and exposure to smoking, and symptoms of different strains of the infection. It also details the available vaccination facilities, including free vaccinations for certain strains in community care settings, and emphasizes the need for culturally competent healthcare and educational sessions to improve immunization rates and overall health outcomes in the Tasmanian community. The report references various studies and data sources to support its findings and recommendations.

Running head: IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE

IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE
Meningococcal infection:
Meningococcal meningitis is a rare but serious bacterial infection caused by Neisseria
meningitis that causes the membrane that covered the brain and spinal cord become inflamed.
Each year approximately, 1000 people in Australia and infected with the meningococcal that
include meningitis and septicaemia (Oliver and Mbaeyi 2018). The prevalence of the disease is
recently observed in Tasmania because of a frequent case of meningococcal infection amongst
aboriginal pollution in the middle of 2018 which is still running spreading in that area. Because
of the contagious natures, the transmission of the infection is very rapid which will further affect
several lives (Fisher et al. 2018). Therefore, free meningococcal vaccination is required to
promote reducing the infectious effect of the meningococcal.
The prevalence in Tasmania:
A study by Lawrence et al. (2016), the health department of Australia suggested that 10
% of the indigenous individuals in Tasmania are carrying Neisseria meningitis in their nose and
throat. Up to 20% of cases are observed where this infection can result from lifelong disabilities
such as gangrene and loss limb. Out of 20% of the cases, 5 to 10% of the cases are fatal.
Another study by Marshall et al. (2016), suggested that 3.5 cases per 10000 were developed a
meningococcal infection in 2002 that decreased to 2.1 cases per 10000 in 2007. However, the
prevalence of it increased in 2005 and gradually increases in recent years in the indigenous area
due to lack of health care facilities and adequate information to reduce risk factor (Martinez
2018). The Australia childhood immunization registry shows Tasmania's immunization rate for
children aged 12 to 15 is just below 93% that indicated that majority of the children are deprived
of protection from the immunity (Leeds et al. 2018). The immunization coverage rates for the

IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE
individuals between 24 to 27 months decreased to 89% (Martinez, 2018). The primary health of
Tasmania estimated that vaccination rates may vary from 67% to 88% in some of the
community. Therefore, the vaccination is required to spread the herd immunity (Korzeniewski et
al. 2015). In September 2018 the national coverage rates were 94.02% for the teenagers.
The risk factor of the infection and symptoms:
A study by Rashid et al. (2015), suggested that older teenagers in between 15 years to 21
years are particularly at risk of carrying the bacteria and transmitting it to others. Besides, the
identified risk factors are exposure to the smoking, infectious individuals, kissing or nose and
throat discharge of individual carrying bacteria (Korzeniewski et al. 2015). . There are two main
types of infection such as meningitis and septicaemia caused by five different strain of it such as
A, B, C, W AD Y. In 2016, most of the cases in Tasmania were W strain and the state had the
highest infection in the country (Leeds et al. 2018). The identified symptoms are fever, nausea,
and confusion, severe throat infection, rashes in the skin (Gibney et al. 2016). In very severe
cases it becomes fatal and contributed to the morbidity rate of the country. However, it was also
observed that due to high health care expenditure and the high cost of meningococcal vaccines,
majority of the individuals refuse to seek help that in turn increase the severity of the disease .
Facilities available for the vaccinations:
Since meningococcal infection is a severe infection that not only fatal but also causes
permanent disabilities, the free vaccination for 15 to 21 year of individuals is crucial for the
aboriginal population to reduce the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous population. A,
C, Y, W vaccinations are available free of cost in community care of aboriginal region of

IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE
Tasmania and the vaccination program would be conducted twice a week in the community care
setting with the assistance of the general practitioner (Drew et al. 2018). Due to the free supply
of meningococcal vaccination for W strains, majority of the individuals were cured in 2018.
Only vaccination B is available in the private healthcare sectors and each of the vaccination cost
$ 150 that aboriginal individuals cannot afford (Arnotte. et al. 2018). For receiving the
vaccination from the community, the culturally competent process would volunteers and health
professional would give culturally sensitive care .Apart from the vaccination, the additional
educational session would be given to each individual in the community about the risk factor of
the disease, how vaccination help to reduce it. It will help in reducing health issues and
empower patients to live quality lives.

IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE
References:
Arnott, A., Jones, P., Franklin, L.J., Spelman, D., Leder, K. and Cheng, A.C., 2018. A registry
for patients with asplenia/hyposplenism reduces the risk of infections with encapsulated
organisms. Clinical Infectious Diseases, p.ciy141.
Drew, N., Burns, J., Burrow, S., Elwell, M., Fleay, J.J., Gray, C., Harford-Mills, M., Hoareau, J.,
Macrae, A., Potter, C. and Poynton, M., 2018. Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
health status, 2017.
Fisher, E.A., Poissant, T., Luedtke, P., Leman, R., Young, C. and Cieslak, P., 2018. Evaluation
of Mass Vaccination Clinics in Response to a Serogroup B Meningococcal Disease Outbreak at a
Large, Public University—Oregon, 2015. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(2), pp.151-156.
Gibney, K.B., Cheng, A.C., Hall, R. and Leder, K., 2016. An overview of the epidemiology of
notifiable infectious diseases in Australia, 1991–2011. Epidemiology & Infection, 144(15),
pp.3263-3277.
Korzeniewski, K., Nitsch-Osuch, A., Konior, M. and Lass, A., 2015. Respiratory tract infections
in the military environment. Respiratory physiology & neurobiology, 209, pp.76-80.
Lawrence, G.L., Wang, H., Lahra, M., Booy, R. and McIntyre, P.B., 2016. Meningococcal
disease epidemiology in Australia 10 years after implementation of a national conjugate
meningococcal C immunization programme. Epidemiology & Infection, 144(11), pp.2382-2391.
Leeds, I.L., Thayer, W.M., Sankhla, P., Bamogo, A. and Namasivayam, V., 2018. Mandatory
Meningococcal Serogroup B Vaccination for College Students is Not Cost-Effective. Value in
Health, 21, p.S1.

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Marshall, H., Wang, B., Wesselingh, S., Snape, M. and Pollard, A.J., 2016. Control of invasive
meningococcal disease: is it achievable?. International journal of evidence-based
healthcare, 14(1), pp.3-14.
Martinez, M.E., 2018. The calendar of epidemics: Seasonal cycles of infectious diseases. PLoS
pathogens, 14(11), p.e1007327.
Oliver, S.E. and Mbaeyi, S.A., 2018. A Review of Global Epidemiology and Response to
Meningococcal Disease Outbreaks among Men Who Have Sex with Men, 2001–2018. Current
Epidemiology Reports, 5(4), pp.321-330.
Rashid, H., Khatami, A., Haworth, E. and Booy, R., 2015. Meningococcal vaccination and Hajj
pilgrimage. The Lancet, 385(9973), pp.1072-1073.