| Mass vaccination declared a success The mass vaccination of residents in a western Victorian town against meningococcal disease was declared a success by health authorities. Victorian Department of Human Services spokesman Bram Alexander said 2,400 people in Portland received meningococcal C vaccinations over the weekend. The mass vaccination drive targeting those aged between 15 and 30 was sparked after a 30-year-old woman died and three 19-year-old men contracted the disease. "While we can't rule out 100 per cent the risk of another case in the area, the vaccination in terms of numbers has been successful," Mr Alexander said. The department said it was remotely possible further cases could emerge because the vaccine took 10 days to become fully effective but that was extremely unlikely because high-risk individuals had received antibiotics for interim protection.
The greatest risk of developing meningococcal disease was during the first 24 hours of being exposed to the infection.
Meanwhile, Mr Alexander said the death of a 42-year-old Bendigo man on Thursday was an isolated case and was not linked to the Portland outbreak. Victoria's chief health officer Dr Robert Hall yesterday reassured the public that the cases did not make Portland dangerous to visit. "This is not like legionnaires' (disease)- there is no specific spot where the source might be. "The way it is transmitted is through social contact from person to person so there is no need to hunt down a particular location," Dr Hall said. There have been 202 cases of meningococcal disease in Victoria this year, including 12 deaths.
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