Addressing hot topics in general practice: Meningococcal B vaccination – Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is responsible for serious morbidity and mortality with global estimates of 50,000-135,000 deaths annually. Due to the early non-specific symptoms of IMD, misdiagnosis is common and often results in late medical intervention. Despite the availability of antibiotic therapy, case fatality rate for IMD serogroups B and C among Australian children below 5 years of age is 5%; and 6-12% for adults over the age of 25. Moreover approximately 10-30% of people who survive IMD develop long-term consequences such as limb deformity, limb scarring, deafness and neurological deficits. In this program GPs can update their IMD awareness so that they are more familiar with which variants of IMD are prevalent, how to diagnose it, how to recommend vaccinations and make sure all at risk groups are covered with immunisations.