A South Australian toddler has died in hospital just three days after being diagnosed with meningococcal disease.
The death of 16-month-old Charlie Joshua Mason comes as the world faces a global shortage of the vaccine for the virulent B strain of the disease.
Charlie was put on life support at Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital on Sunday night just hours after coming down with what his family initially believed to be a stomach bug.
Posting on Facebook on Monday, the toddler's distraught grandmother Bianca Bais explained how quickly the deadly disease struck the little boy.
"Charlie was just miserable all day, we thought it was a tummy bug, took him to Noarlunga Hospital but they cleared him at 5pm and sent him home," Ms Bais wrote.
"A short time later, Charlie threw up and his mother noticed 'a few red dots' [on his body] and thought it was chickenpox.
"Bonnie [the toddler's mother] took Charlie to Flinders hospital and within less than an hour he was put on life support and then in two hours he was rushed to the Women's and Children's Hospital where he is still fighting for his life in a very dangerous critical condition."
Sadly the toddler did not recover, and passed away on Wednesday night. It is believed Charlie was killed by the deadly B strain of the disease.
Doctors have praised the little boy's family for acting so quickly and doing everything they possibly could have to prevent his death.
The toddler's death follows the death of a "fit, young and healthy" 24-year-old Perth man from the same disease on October 21.
A preschool aged child, also from Perth, died from the disease in early September.
A vaccine to protect against the C-strain of meningococcal disease is provided free of charge to all one-year-olds in Australia under the National Immunisation Program. A vaccine against the B-strain, which is now more common, is available on prescription, but comes at a cost and has been the subject of a global shortage.
A spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of the Bexsero vaccine, told Fairfax Media the company was endeavouring to increase supplies to Australia.
"There is a shortage of the meningococcal B vaccine in Australia and we are increasing supply as much as we can to meet that demand. Manufacturing vaccines is a very complex process and it can take up to two years in some cases, but we are bringing in new vaccines for [meningococcal B] to Australia and distributing them as soon as they come in," she said, adding she expected to be able to "fully meet demand by the beginning of next year".
She said the company had applied to the Federal Government three times to have the vaccine listed on the free list, but had been rejected each time.
Data from states that track the number of cases of meningococcal shows there has been a rise in numbers in 2016 compared with previous years.
In Victoria there have been 57 cases so far this year, up from 50 cases in 2015 and 26 cases in 2014. In NSW, there have been 63 cases already in 2016, up from 43 in 2015 and 35 in 2014.
Western Australia has had 17 cases so far this year, compared with the same number for all of 2015.
NSW Health Director of Communicable Diseases, Dr Vicky Sheppeard, said the disease was most prevalent at this time of year and that infants, young children, teenagers and young adults were most at risk.
"Meningococcal disease can be very severe, and people infected with it can become extremely unwell within hours of the first symptoms appearing, so it's important to be aware of the symptoms," she said.
Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, cold hands and feet, limb/joint pain, nausea and vomiting, headache, neck stiffness, dislike of bright lights and a pin-prick rash changing to large red-purple blotches that don't disappear when gentle pressure is applied.
Babies and very young children may also become irritable, be difficult to wake, have rapid or laboured breathing, diarrhoea, a high-pitched cry or refuse to eat.
Dr Sheppeard said it was important to note that all the symptoms might not be present at the one time and the rash might not appear until late in the disease.
"If anyone suspects meningococcal disease, they should see a doctor immediately and return if symptoms worsen," she said.
She said there were four main strains of the meningococcal bacteria in total and it was important to be on the lookout for symptoms, even if your child has been immunised against one or more.
Toddler Charlie's grieving family have pleaded with other family's to be alert for the early symptoms of the disease.
Alongside an image of Charlie covered in the typical purplish rash of the infectious disease, Ms Bais told parents to "research this ugly disease" and to keep a close eye on sick children.
"Sorry to shock everyone and if I have offended you by posting this pic I do apologise, but parents need to be educated about this ugly disease," she wrote on Facebook.