Bella Fidler death: 23 year-old Queensland law graduate died tragically from meningococcal B

Bella Fidler, a law graduate from Queensland passed away after contracting with meningococcal B virus. Let’s see what happened to the Queensland girl in detail.

Bella Fidler’s death:

The Gold Coast woman passed away from a preventable illness less than a week after returning on a girls’ trip to Bali to celebrate graduation. 

Fidler told her parents she felt sick in December of last year and that she thought she might have COVID-19.  She initially merely had a temperature, according to her father Blair Fidler. 

“She had a fairly high temperature on Saturday morning. We gave her Panadol and Neurofen and her temperature came back down to normal. She had dinner. She said she was started to feel a bit better.” 

Bella Fidler scrambled to deadly Meningococcus B virus:

Meningococcus caused 23-year-old Gold Coast woman Bella’s death. Bella Fidler was admitted to a Gold Coast hospital but she never returned. 

The 23-year-old first experienced flu-like symptoms, but as her health quickly declined, doctors discovered that she had meningococcal B, a fatal infection that causes meningitis. 

Bella “had a seizure and from that point on it spiraled rapidly out of control,” according to her mother, Jodie Fidler.

“She stopped breathing, they did a lumbar puncture to determine what was wrong with her,” she said. “By that stage, she’d already had a cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated.” 

Later, she was put on life support before being taken by ambulance to the Gold Coast University Hospital’s neurology department.

She was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis through tests, which it was subsequently discovered resulted from her contracting meningococcal B.

Bella had “a catastrophic brain injury” within five hours of being admitted, according to Ms. Fidler. “There was no longer any hope at that point and Bella did not regain consciousness.

Although Bella’s condition was terminal, she was kept on life support so her loved ones could say their goodbyes. Within 24 hours of getting ill, she passed away.  

Her relatives described her as cheerful, healthy, and gregarious, and she was about to attend her graduation ceremony two weeks later. She had her sights set on a career in international law since she was passionate about animal rights and humanitarian issues.

Request to expand Vaccination:

 Meningococcal bacteria are spread via prolonged, close contact, such as kissing, sneezing, or sharing of food or beverages. 

According to Meningitis Centre Australia, the bacteria can cause disease in a tiny percentage of instances, with about 10% of cases ending in death.

Karen Quick, the center’s chief executive says, “There are five strains, and four of those strains — A, C, W, and Y — are covered under the free National Immunisation Plan that all of our years 10 students get, as well as babies at 12 months of age.” 

“But that fifth one, meningococcal B, that vaccine is not covered.” 

Bella’s immunization history was what really shocked the family. “We thought Bella had been vaccinated. She did have the meningococcal vaccination when she was in Year 10, but the thing we learned was that only covered four of the five strains,” Fidler said. “It doesn’t cover meningococcal B, which is what she had.” 

The family is requesting that the Queensland government expand the immunization programme to include meningococcal B immunization, which is now thought to be the predominant strain of the viral infection in Australia. Currently, only South Australia includes the meningococcal B vaccine in its immunization programme. 

KEEP READING,

Fay Miller death: How did the Former Mayor of Katherine die? Cause of death explained

Jerry Foster death: How did the former Sky12 reporter die? Cause of death Explained

Follow us on Twitter for more updates.