A 10 month-old baby has died from meningococcal disease after being flown to Westmead hospital on Saturday afternoon from Lightning Ridge.
The family was not from Lightning Ridge, although it has been confirmed the child was from north west NSW.
Far West Area Health unit is undertaking what is called contact tracing where the public health unit identifies parties who may have come into contact with the disease and provides information and help.
Kathy Seward from Far West Area Health has been in contact with parents and hospital staff over the weekend.
"We have been promoting the public health message about early intervention, looking for signs and symptoms," she said.
Ms Seward said she had a tele-conference from Broken Hill with the parties who came into contact with the child.
According to the Far West Area Health Service there has only been one case of meningococcal reported between 2003 and 2004 and it was in the lower part of the area health service.
NSW Health said people who have had minimal exposure to someone with meningococcal had very little risk of developing the disease.
When speaking about contacts NSW Health is referring to people who have had very close and prolonged contact with a person who has the disease, such as household members.
Contacts are offered an antibiotic to kill the bacteria in the nose and throat, and therefore reduce the risk of further cases.
Meningococcal disease is a serious illness usually causing meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain) and septicaemia (blood poisoning).
The disease is rare and affects between 200 and 250 people in NSW each year or less than one in 10,000 people.
Meningococcal bacteria can be present in the nose and throat of 5per cent to 25 per cent of people who remain completely well and never develop the disease.
The symptoms include the sudden onset of fever, headache, tiredness, neck stiffness, joint pain, a rash of red purple spots or bruises, a dislike of bright lights, vomiting and nausea.
However not all symptoms may be present at once and babies may have less specific symptoms.
It is important to seek medical attention early as most people recover from the disease with early antibiotic treatment.
The bacteria are not easily spread from person to person as the infection is not airborne.
Close and prolonged contact is usually required for the bacteria to be passed between people and it is spread by secretions from the nose and throat.
While meningococcal disease occurs in a wide range of people some groups are at greater risk, including babies, children, adolescents and young adults, people exposed to cigarette smoke, travellers to countries with high rates of the disease, and people with certain medical conditions such as having no spleen.
Meningococcal disease occurs more commonly in winter and spring.
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