NSW: Man may have survived meningococcal if SA warned NSW: court

AAP General News (Australia)
04-03-2006
NSW: Man may have survived meningococcal if SA warned NSW: court

By Adam Gartrell

SYDNEY, April 3 AAP - A Sydney man who died from meningococcal disease after a cruise
may have survived if South Australian authorities had issued a warning when an Adelaide
passenger fell ill, an inquest has been told.

NSW Coroner John Abernethy today wrapped up an inquest into the case of Lorenzo Lombardo,
21, who died of meningococcal disease six days after leaving the P&O cruise liner Pacific
Sky in January 2002.

Mr Lombardo started feeling sick three days after leaving the ship, Glebe Coroner's
Court was told today.

He collapsed in the shower on the morning of January 24 and died in hospital that night.

His death came two days after South Australian medical authorities diagnosed Adelaide
man Andrew Fechner - who had been on the same cruise - with the potentially fatal disease.

Mr Lombardo's family argue South Australian authorities should have notified health
authorities interstate that other cruise passengers may have been at risk.

They want health guidelines changed to make it mandatory for all cases of meningococcal
disease to be reported to the Communicable Disease Network Australia (CDNA).

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jodie Sheperd, today said Mr Lombardo may have survived
if Mr Fechner's case had been known of in NSW.

"The fact of the matter is, if Mr Lombardo had resided in South Australia, the facts
of this case may not have been in this court," Ms Sheperd said.

"Do we take the chance with someone else's life?"

Dr Robert Hall, the former South Australian public health investigator who dealt with
the Fechner case, said he had decided not to tell the CDNA.

"I considered (Mr Fechner's) was an (isolated) case," he said.

He said investigations had led him to believe that Mr Fechner had only "fleeting contact"

with other cruise passengers and it was therefore unlikely he had passed on the disease.

In hindsight, it was likely both men had contracted the disease on board the ship and
that their cases were directly related, he said.

Dr Jeremy McAnulty, Director of Communicable Diseases at NSW Health, said he believed
"the actions of South Australia were appropriate".

After hearing just three hours of evidence, Mr Abernethy ended the inquest, indicating
he would hand down any recommendations tomorrow.

Today's hearing was the latest coronial inquest into a death aboard the Pacific Sky.

Brisbane mother-of-three Dianne Brimble, 42, was found dead on the floor of a cabin
on the ship less than 24 hours after boarding on September 23, 2002.

A separate coronial inquest has heard Mrs Brimble died from an overdose of the date-rape
drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or fantasy.

That inquest will resume in June.

AAP ag/hn/cdh/sd

KEYWORD: LOMBARDO NIGHTLEAD (PIX AVAILABLE)

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