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Meningococcal Meningitis Prophylaxis Blog

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Health Tip: Do I Need the Meningococcal Vaccine?

Posted 18 days ago by Drugs.com

-- The meningococcal vaccine helps prevent meningitis and sepsis (infection of the blood), which can lead to severe illness and death. People aged 16 through 21 are most likely to acquire meningococcal disease, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says. The agency says you probably should be vaccinated: If you live in a dorm, or plan to live in one soon. If you are a military recruit. If you have a damaged spleen, or the organ has been removed. If you have a terminal complement deficiency. If you are a microbiologist who is frequently exposed to the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis. If you live in or plan to travel to a place where meningococcal infection is common. Read more

New Meningitis Vaccine Works in Infants: Study

Posted 7 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Feb. 7 – Routinely giving infants a new vaccine that guards against meningitis appears to be effective, a new study indicates. The multi-center clinical trial of almost 1,900 infants found that administration of routine infant immunizations with a vaccine for serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis – a bacterium that can cause serious disease such as sepsis and meningitis – was effective against meningococcal strains and caused minimal interference with infants' response to routine vaccinations. The study of the multi-component serogroup B meningococcal vaccine (4CMenB) was funded by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics and appears in the Feb. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "In conclusion, 4CMenB was "immunogenic [able to produce an immune response], generally well tolerated, and showed minimal interference with routine vaccines in the first year of ... Read more

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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

More Teens Getting Vaccines Against HPV, Other Infections: CDC

Posted 14 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Nov. 14 – Although the number of teens getting three new recommended vaccines is growing, there's still room for improvement, government researchers report. The three vaccines were added to the recommended list of vaccines in 2005 through 2007. They include the TdaP vaccine, which shields against tetanus, diptheria and whooping cough (pertussis); the meningitis vaccine (MenACWY) and the human papillomavirus (HPV) shot for girls, which prevents about 70 percent of cervical cancers and vaginal warts. Overall, the proportion of 13- to 17-year-olds who were up-to-date on these three shots rose from 10 percent in 2006 to almost 42 percent by 2009, the team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. "On the good side, vaccination coverage is increasing," said lead researcher Shannon Stokley, from the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory ... 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

Researchers Closer to Developing Universal Meningitis B Vaccine

Posted 15 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, July 15 – New research may bring scientists one step closer to developing a vaccine that protects against hundreds of strains of meningococcus B, the most common cause of bacterial meningitis. Bacterial meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, can cause brain damage and death. Existing vaccines cover four of five types of bacteria that cause the disease, but developing a vaccine against meningococcus B has been challenging because more than 300 strains exist. For this study, researchers with Novartis, the pharmaceuticals giant, and the University of Florence in Italy bioengineered 54 immunogens, which are substances that can elicit an immune response. They then tested these immunogens in mice to see which ones encouraged the development of antibodies when exposed to diverse strains of meningococcus B. From there, they tested eight ... Read more

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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

Teens Should Get Meningitis Booster Shot: CDC Panel

Posted 27 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 27 – Teenagers should get a booster shot of the vaccine that protects against bacterial meningitis, a U.S. health advisory panel recommended Wednesday. The panel made the recommendation because the vaccine appears not to last as long as previously thought. In 2007, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that the meningitis vaccine – usually given to college freshman – be offered to 11 and 12 year olds, the Associated Press reported. The vaccine was initially aimed at high school and college students because bacterial meningitis is more dangerous for teens and can spread easily in crowded settings, such as dorm rooms. At that time the panel thought the vaccine would be effective for at least 10 years. But, information presented at the panel's meeting Wednesday showed the vaccine is effective for ... Read more

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Childhood Vaccination Rates Remain High in U.S.

Posted 16 Sep 2010 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Sept. 16 – U.S. childhood immunization rates remain high, with coverage for most routine vaccines at or over 90 percent, a new federal report shows. Among children aged 19 to 35 months, less than 1 percent had not received any vaccinations, according to the 2009 National Immunization Survey of more than 17,000 households with children born between January 2006 and July 2008. Coverage for vaccination against poliovirus, hepatitis B, chickenpox, and measles, mumps and rubella remained relatively stable and near or above the national Healthy People 2010 target of 90 percent or higher, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. Rates of vaccination for hepatitis A and the birth dose of hepatitis B increased by more than 6 percent and 5 percent, respectively, from the previous year. Forty-four percent of the children had received rotavirus vaccine ... Read more

Unvaccinated Teen's Life Forever Changed

Posted 5 Sep 2010 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Sept. 3 – Carl Buher came home from the football game feeling rotten. A strong, healthy, 14-year-old high school freshman, Carl had attended a day's worth of school and then played in the game, but it felt as if he were coming down with the flu. That made sense: A lot of his teammates had recently had the flu, and he figured they'd just passed it on to him. So he came home, ate, did his homework and went to bed, recalled Carl's mother, Lori Buher of La Conner, Wash. When she woke him up in the morning, Carl told her he'd been up all night vomiting. "We figured he had the flu, so he stayed home from school," Buher said. The first sign that Carl might be sicker than they thought came in the form of purple bruises that began to form, first on his face and then down his arms and legs. By 2 p.m., Buher took her son to the doctor, concerned for his health. The doctor diagnosed Carl ... Read more

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Novartis Gets US Approval for Menveo Meningitis Vaccine

Posted 22 Feb 2010 by Drugs.com

BASEL, Switzerland – Swiss drug maker Novartis AG said Monday that its meningitis vaccine Menveo has been approved for use in teenagers and adults by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Menveo is a vaccine against four common types of bacterial meningitis, which affects between 1,000 and 3,000 people each year in the United States. The U.S. regulator approved the drug for people between 11 and 55, Novartis said. Bacterial meningitis causes swelling of the membrane that covers the brain or spinal cord and can lead to death within 48 hours. Novartis said it is continuing clinical trials for the use of the vaccine in other age groups. The drug received a positive recommendation from the European Union’s regulator in December, and Novartis says it expects full EU approval in the coming months. Read more

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Actress Helps Promote New Campaign for Meningitis Vaccine

Posted 25 Jan 2010 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Sept. 11 – While public attention has been focused on getting vaccinated for both the seasonal flu and H1N1 swine flu this fall, a nationwide effort has been launched to highlight the need to be vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis, a rare and sometimes deadly infection that tends to strike teenagers and college students. Labeled the "Voice of Meningitis," the campaign was launched recently by the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) to educate parents about the availability of a safe and effective inoculation against this fast-moving disease, which at its worst can cripple or even kill an affected young person in as little as 24 hours following the initial onset of flu-like symptoms. "I was approached about three to four months ago to be the spokesperson for the 'Voice of Meningitis' campaign," explained actress Lori Loughlin, star of both the TV sitcom "Full ... Read more

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Meningitis -- Meningococcal

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Cipro, ciprofloxacin, Rocephin, rifampin, ceftriaxone, Rifadin, Cipro IV, Menactra, meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine, view more... Rimactane, Menomune A/C/Y/W-135, Menveo, Cipro XR, meningococcal conjugate vaccine, Rifadin IV, Menomune