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Meningitis -- Meningococcal Blog

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Study: More Pre-Teens Get Vaccines When Middle Schools Require Them

Posted 7 May 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, May 7 – Pre-teens living in states that require vaccinations for incoming middle school students are more likely to be immunized than those in states without such requirements, a new study finds. Current vaccine guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that boys and girls aged 11 to 12 receive three immunizations or boosters: tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis (TdaP); meningococcal conjugate; and three doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. In 2008-2009, 32 states required TdaP and three required meningococcal conjugate. One state, Virginia, required HPV vaccination for girls during those years. About 80 percent of kids aged 13 to 17 received the recommended TdaP vaccine in states that required vaccination for middle school entry compared to 70 percent of kids in states that didn't require it. For meningococcal vaccine, those rates were ... Read more

Vaccine Against Bacterial Meningitis Shows Promise

Posted 18 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 18 – A new vaccine to protect against meningococcus B, a common cause of bacterial meningitis, shows promise in clinical trials, researchers in Chile report. Vaccines that protect from four other strains of Neisseria meningitides, a bacteria that causes meningococcal disease, are already in use or in the last stages of development, according to a news release from The Lancet. The other strains include A, C, W135 and Y. The new research examined the effectiveness of the vaccine for strain B, which remains a significant source of meningococcal disease in North America, South America and Europe. Researchers tested the vaccine called 4CMenB at 12 sites in Chile. More than 1,600 teens aged 11 to 17 were given either one, two or three doses of the vaccine at one-, two- and three-month intervals, or a placebo. After two or three doses, nearly all of the teens had blood test ... Read more

Doctors in a Bind When Parents Want to Delay, Skip Vaccines

Posted 28 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Nov. 28 – Mistrust of childhood vaccines is causing some parents to request "alternative" schedules from doctors, either delaying or skipping some shots. And a new study suggests that most pediatricians are willing to go along with these requests – up to a point. "Parents seem to be regularly requesting alternative childhood immunization schedules," noted co-author Dr. Douglas John Opel, an acting assistant professor in the University of Washington's department of pediatrics. However, he added, "there needs to be more research into the effectiveness and safety of these schedules." The report is published in the Nov. 28 online edition of Pediatrics. The issue of parents ignoring standard guidelines on childhood vaccination schedules is worrying to many experts. One study, published in the November issue of Pediatrics, found that more than one in 10 parents in the United States ... Read more

Vaccinations Aren't Just for Kids

Posted 16 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Sept. 16 – Public health experts often focus immunization awareness efforts toward protecting children, and with good reason: Facing a potentially bewildering schedule of vaccinations for their young ones, parents usually need all the help they can get. But vaccinations aren't just kid stuff. Medical science is creating an increasing number of immunizations targeted at adults, to help them avoid life-threatening diseases in middle-age and opportunistic infections when they're older. "Immunization is a life-long issue that we need to pay a lot of attention to," said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. Some adult vaccinations are very well-known, like the annual shot that aims to prevent the spread of influenza. "You need an influenza shot every year," Benjamin said. "Part of that is because the virus changes every year, ... Read more

CDC Report Shows Bacterial Meningitis Cases on the Decline

Posted 25 May 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, May 25 – The incidence of bacterial meningitis dropped by 31 percent between 1998 and 2007, new government research shows. The drop was led by reductions in infections by two powerful germs – Neisseria meningitidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae – that are covered by available immunizations. With fewer infections among young children, the burden of the disease is now mainly borne by older adults, the study authors found. "The good news is that fewer people are getting bacterial meningitis. The bad news is that if you get it, it's still a very serious infection," said study co-author Dr. Cynthia Whitney, chief of the bacterial respiratory diseases branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "There are still at least 4,000 cases a year, including about 500 that are fatal," she noted. Results of the study are published in the May 26 issue of the ... Read more

Anti-Inflammatory Helps Treat Bacterial Meningitis: Study

Posted 29 Sep 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 29 – Using the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone along with antibiotics increases the chance of surviving a bout with bacterial meningitis, Dutch researchers report. "Dexamethasone therapy reduces mortality from bacterial meningitis by one-third," said lead researcher Dr. Diederik van de Beek, a clinical neurologist from the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam. "That's a huge effect," he added. "Normally, the death rate of bacterial meningitis is 30 percent; if you use dexamethasone, it decreases to 20 percent." The report is published in the Sept. 29 online edition and the Oct. 26 print issue of Neurology. For the study, van de Beek's team collected data on 357 people 16 and older who had bacterial meningitis between 2006 and 2009. Of these patients, 84 percent were given a dose of dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, before antibiotic treatment was ... Read more

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