A Darwin woman who died from meningococcal disease on New Year's Eve has been remembered as a "gorgeous sister" and "beautiful soul".
Mary-Ellen Hurley, who turned 34 last week, died hours after presenting at Palmerston hospital's emergency department late on New Year's Eve.
She had become ill the day before she went to hospital complaining of vomiting, shortness of breath and a general feeling of being unwell, Ms Hurley's sister Tess told AAP.
She contracted the W strain of meningococcal disease, which is the most common in the Northern Territory, the Centre for Disease Control said on Friday.
Ms Hurley's sister Tess wrote on Facebook that "our gorgeous sister, Mary-Ellen Hurley, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly just prior to midnight on Monday".
She had been sedated at the time of her passing, was not in any pain and "mum, Jo, her partner Justin and I were all by her side at the time of her passing.
Ms Hurley was her elderly father Peter's carer.
"Mary-Ellen was one of the most kind, generous and beautiful people I have had the pleasure of knowing," friend April Kaye posted.
"Mary ellen was such a beautiful soul. Loved by soo (sic) many," another friend Carlie Richards wrote.
Director for the Centre for Disease Control Dr Vicki Krause this week urged people to get vaccinations for meningococcal.
The A,C,W, and Y strain vaccine is available to people 19 and under for free but not for adults, with a separate B vaccine also available at a cost for all ages.
Ms Hurley's sister Tess said the Meningococcal B vaccine should also be made available by the NT government for free to all children, instead of imposing current high costs in the hundreds of dollars.
"It's ludicrous that such a serious and preventable illness isn't covered when the fact remains it is killing people and the symptoms are that of a common cold.
"Most people wouldn't present to the hospital with those symptoms unless it didn't go away for a few days. As we have seen with Em, it is then too late.
Meningococcal disease was fatal in 5-10 per cent of cases.
"Meningococcal disease can attack healthy people, so a person can be totally healthy one day and 24 hours later, as we've witnessed here, can be dead," Dr Krause said.
It was therefore crucial that people who might have the disease and been exposed to someone with it to get to a doctor as quickly as possible to get the appropriate antibiotics, Dr Krause said.
There were 10 cases in the NT last year and 32 in 2017 due to an outbreak in central Australia but the trend before that was only one to four cases a year.
A woman and a child died in separate cases in the Top End last year after contracting the 'W' and 'B' meningococcal strains.
