The province is warning Manitobans, particularly those in the north, about a troubling rise in a potentially deadly bacterial infection. In a Wednesday press release, public health officials with Manitoba Health raised concerns about an elevated number of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) cases caused by serogroup W, which has been spreading since December 2023. According to the province, there have been 23 confirmed cases of IMD and four deaths in 2025, which is approximately five times the expected number of cases. The majority of those cases were in the Northern Health Region and have disproportionately affected Indigenous communities, the province said. The infection poses the greatest risk to babies under one year old, though cases have been reported across multiple age groups. Symptoms typically present two to 10 days following exposure and include a dark purple rash, fever, nausea, stiff neck, vomiting and other severe aches and pains. Long-term side effects can include hearing loss, brain damage, and can even require limb amputations. As many as 10 per cent of cases are fatal. The province is encouraging Manitobans to check their immunization records and make sure they’re up to date with meningococcal vaccines. It also says two additional doses of the meningococcal conjugate quadrivalent (Men-C-ACYW) vaccine are available to infants and children aged six weeks to under one year old that live in an Indigenous community in Manitoba, travel regularly to Indigenous communities within the province, or have had visitors from said communities. -With files from CTV’s Will Reimer
