Meningococcal Meningitis News and Research

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NMA urges parents to protect their children from meningococcal disease

This winter, while many parents are focused on influenza prevention, the National Meningitis Association (NMA) is urging parents to also protect their families from meningococcal disease, a deadly but potentially vaccine preventable bacterial infection.

22 Dec 2009

Vaccination rates need improvement; racial and ethnic disparities in vaccination coverage

More teenagers are being vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), meningococcal meningitis and pertussis (whooping cough), though the rates are still too low, according to recently released government data and a panel of experts convened by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).

27 Oct 2009

More infants are being immunized but funding gap leaves millions of children still at risk

Reversing a downward trend, immunization rates are now at their highest ever and vaccine development worldwide is booming, according to a new assessment released today by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the World Bank.

22 Oct 2009

Voices of Meningitis urges parents to vaccinate preteens and teens for protection against meningococcal diseases

School nurses and families affected by a potentially deadly form of meningitis today launched a national consumer education initiative, called Voices of Meningitis. The initiative strongly urges parents to vaccinate preteens and teens, who are at greater risk of getting meningococcal disease, including meningococcal meningitis -- a rare, but serious bacterial infection.

24 Aug 2009

Schoolies warned that after-effects of drinking or drug-taking could disguise the start of meningococcal disease

Following reports that an 18-year-old student celebrating 'schoolies' week on Queensland's Gold Coast has been hospitalised with meningococcal disease, health officials have warned schoolies that the after-effects of drinking or drug-taking could disguise the onset of the disease.

26 Nov 2008

New discovery on role of vital protein that fights meningitus

A University of Leicester researcher has discovered how a protein in the blood - linked to defence against meningitis - plays a more vital role than previously understood in the body's immune defence system.

6 May 2008

New meningitis vaccine a potential new weapon against the deadly disease

In a joint venture British and Canadian researchers have found that a new type of meningitis vaccine offers immunity to infants as young as six months from the deadly disease.

9 Jan 2008

New data on the performance of meningitis vaccine in West African children

The Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) today released new data on the performance of a meningitis vaccine in West African children, suggesting that the new vaccine,expected to sell initially for 40 US cents a dose,will be much more effective in protecting African children and their communities than any vaccine currently on the market in the region.

14 Jun 2007

GlaxoSmithKline files European meningococcal conjugate vaccine

GlaxoSmithKline has announced the submission of a regulatory file to European Medicines Agency (EMEA) under Article 58 for the combination vaccine candidate Globorix (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b, Neisseria meningitides serogroups A and C).

1 Apr 2007

New rapid diagnostic tests for Neisseria meningitidis

Over a million people each year, most of them in the "meningitis belt" in Africa, contract bacterial meningitis, a potentially deadly infection of tissues that line the brain and spinal cord.

4 Sep 2006

Conjugate vaccines for preventing meningococcal C meningitis and septicaemia

A new systematic review suggests that a certain kind of vaccine may help to protect babies and small children from a devastating killer: meningococcal meningitis.

19 Jul 2006

New treatment for brucellosis

Concepcion Lecaroz, a researcher from the University of Navarra, has developed a new therapy against brucellosis. This zoonosis - a disease or infection of animals which can be transmitted to humans under natural conditions - annually affects 500,000 people worldwide.

18 Jan 2006

Significant step forward in the search for a vaccine against Group B meningococcal disease

For a long time, doctors and scientists have suspected that Neisseria lactamica, a harmless germ carried mostly by children under the age of five years, is the key to the development of natural immunity to meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia (blood poisoning).

2 Aug 2005

Meningitis epidemics driven by the wind

A meningitis epidemic hits West Africa every year, affecting 25 000 to 200 000 people. It has long been known that the timing of this epidemic and its spatial distribution within the “Meningitis Belt”, situated between 10° and 15° North, are closely linked to climatic conditions. Involved in the AMMA programme, IRD and University of Paris-VII researcher produced the first quantified description of this relationship using statistical methods.

5 Apr 2005

Pilgrimage to Mecca comes with a few medical risks

The Hajj or Haj is the Pilgrimage to Mecca (or, "Makkah") and is the fifth of the "Five Pillars of Islam". Every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so is obliged to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. Later this month about three million Muslims will gather for this major pilgrimage. But two doctors in this week's BMJ warn that the Hajj carries considerable health risks if the pilgrim is unprepared.

13 Jan 2005

College freshmen, beware of dorm diseases

High school graduates have more in common with newborn babies than one would think. Although departing the proverbial family nest, incoming college freshmen need vaccinations, too.

2 Aug 2004

Mathematics helps explain meningococcal meningitis outbreaks

Outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis depend on small differences in the pathogenicity of different bacterial strains, a new report indicates.

22 Jun 2004

150 top scientists debate and offer expert advice on cutting edge vaccine research

More than 150 top scientists, researchers and public health experts from around the world will meet in Switzerland next week to present, debate and offer expert advice on cutting edge vaccine research and development, as well as vaccine policy and implementation.

3 Jun 2004