The parents of a 23-year-old woman - who died not long after contracting a deadly, but preventable, bacterial infection - want answers.
Last December, a week after returning from a girls’ trip to Bali, Bella Fidler walked into John Flynn Private Hospital, near the family’s home in Tugun, in the early hours of the morning with what she thought was COVID.
Once there, her condition quickly became critical as the doctors diagnosed her with bacterial meningitis.
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Tests showed that Bella had suffered extensive brain damage and she died within 24-hours.
The doctors claim that the young woman had contracted meningococcal B, which caused the deadly meningitis.
Like most young adults her age, Bella had been immunised for meningococcal in high school, however, the national immunisation program schedule is said to not include the deadly meningococcal B strain, according to Meningitis Centre Australia.
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"It’s hard to believe that somebody young and healthy can walk into a hospital in Australia and five hours later they’re brain-dead," Bella’s dad, Blair Fidler, told 7NEWS.
“I guess the thing that really shocked us is the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) recommends this for all infants and teenagers, but when we spoke to our friends and our family, almost nobody was aware of this."
A meningococcal vaccine, which covers the B strain is only available privately and costs about $380 AUD (£199).
Only South Australia provides the shot for free.
“It is very expensive and many families can’t afford it, so that’s exactly why we’re asking the Queensland Government to put this on the schedule,” Blair added.
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“Hopefully, we can avoid this situation for other families in future.”
“We just want people to be aware and informed about it because it’s not something many people really know about,” mum Jodie said.
“We live on the Gold Coast and there’s going to be lots of music festivals, big schoolies events coming up in the coming months.
“Those are like the prime locations for a meningococcal outbreak to occur.
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“Now that COVID restrictions have eased, there’s been a significant increase in numbers, well over 70 percent increase on this time last year.
“So it’s really important that people are aware and educated about it.”
A petition has since been created, calling on the government to add the vaccine to the state schedule.
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“We do not need to wait for a deadly outbreak in order to vaccinate our children against this disease,” Currumbin MP Laura Gerber said.
“Meningococcal B is a vaccine-preventable disease.
“And if our children are given the B strain as part of the state-based immunisation program, then they can be protected.
“At the moment in Queensland there are 14 cases. That’s a 71 percent increase on last year, and the peak is the end of winter, so we haven’t even reached the stage where we’re going to see cases rise.
“Our children are not protected from this strain.”
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/BellaFidler/Instagram/@meningitis_centre_australia