Woman dies after returning from holiday and saying she 'didn't feel right'
A family has been left devastated after their daughter died when she returned from a celebratory holiday to Bali.
Bella Fidler, 23, was suffering with "flu-like symptoms" and initially thought she had Covid-19 after her trip on the Indonesian island to celebrate the end of her law degree.
She showed up at a hospital on Australia's Gold Coast in December, but rapidly became "critically ill" and suffered a seizure.
"The doctors eventually diagnosed her with bacterial meningitis," her parents, Blair and Jodie, shared in a statement to Meningitis Centre Australia.
"Within hours our lives were shattered by the devastating news that Bella had suffered extensive brain damage and was not expected to survive."
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Bella, like many teens in Australia, had undergone immunisation while at high school.
But on this occasion, the specific strain of the disease was not covered by the national immunisation program.
Her parents explained: "We later found out that the national immunisation program schedule does not include the deadly meningococcal B strain."
Her family is working to get the B strain vaccine included in the national vaccination program (Meningitis Centre Australia/Instagram)The family is trying to raise awareness over Bella's preventable death, and to tell the public that there's a vaccine available for the B strain - which costs $200AUD (£110).
They are also calling for the local government to include it in the free program.
Currently, the only state in Australia that includes the meningococcal B strain vaccine in its free program is South Australia.
Some states will provide it for those in at-risk groups.
This is all while considering that strain B is the most prevalent in Australia.
Between 1997 and 2016, 396 people died as a result of the disease.
"A sudden death like this sends shockwaves that resonate far wider and longer than anyone can imagine," Bella's parents said.
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"Bella epitomised joy for life and we feel so blessed that she was able to have so many wonderful experiences and adventures during her short time here on earth."
Last month, it emerged that meningitis cases across England had doubled in the past year, with a leading charity warning people not to become complacent about the potentially deadly disease.
Meningitis is an infection of the membrane protecting the brain and spinal cord, usually caused by a virus or bacteria.
Most people who catch meningitis recover within ten days, but in some rare cases it can be deadly.
Latest figures released by the UK Health Security Agency show that cases of Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) have increased across the nation from just 80 in 2020-2021 to 205 cases in the 12 months from July 2021 to June 2022.
The stats also show that 179 of these were caused by MenB (meningococcal group B) with most of those (84 cases) occurring in adolescents and young adults aged between 15 and 24 years old.
The figures indicate that nearly a third of MenB cases occurred in children under five and a similar number (32 per cent) of MenB cases occurred in adults.
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