A 53-year-old man from Adelaide died over the weekend after contracting a case of invasive meningococcal disease, SA Health has revealed.

SA Health said the strain was serogroup B and they had identified multiple people who had been in contact with the man, who died on Saturday.

It said four people had been directed “to receive clearance antibiotics”.

SA Health said there had been 18 cases of invasive meningococcal disease in SA so far this year, compared with 13 at the same time last year.

This included an 18-month-old boy from Mannum in the state’s Murray Mallee, who died in hospital after contracting the B-strain in April.

It said 11 cases had involved meningococcal B strain, while five had been serogroup W and two serogroup Y.

“Winter and spring are commonly a higher risk time for meningococcal disease, but as the disease is only spread by close or lengthy contact, there is no increased public health risk,” SA Health said in a statement.

It said its thoughts were with the family of the man.

This year some 61,496 South Australian students from 238 schools are being provided with the meningococcal B strain vaccine, Bexsero, as part of an immunity study.

SOURCE: ABC online