UK: Children not protected against meningitis despite vaccination

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http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/health/Children-protected-meningitis-despite-vaccination/article-2259856-detail/article.html

Children not protected against meningitis despite vaccination

Chief Executive Sue Davie

CHILDREN in Gloucestershire may not be protected against a potentially fatal disease despite being vaccinated against it, new research suggests.

Three out of four youngsters have no personal protection against meningitis C within seven years of vaccination, according to a study.

This has led to calls for a booster dose to be introduced.

The Gloucestershire-based Meningitis Trust is concerned by the findings of the study, carried out by a team from Oxford University.

Chief executve Sue Davie said: "Vaccination is the only way to prevent meningitis and save lives. We support the use of safe and effective vaccines and encourage people to receive the vaccines that are available.

"If, as a result of this research, a booster programme is introduced, we would actively encourage the introduction of this."

The research states that British children are still protected against the potentially fatal bacteria at the moment. However, the Oxford Vaccine Group said it was not clear how long this protection would remain in the UK and, if it started to erode, many children would be vulnerable, despite previous vaccination.

Tewkesbury nine-year-old Levana Hanson had her legs amputated below the knee after contracting the B strain of the disease as a baby.

Her mother, Glenda Hill, said: "If it's out there, go and get it done. I'm still fighting, nearly 10 years on, the effects of what happened to Levana."

In the study, 250 children between the ages of six and 12, who had all been vaccinated against meningitis C, were monitored. It found that only 25 per cent had sufficiently high levels of the antibodies to be protected within seven years of vaccination.

Professor Pollard, who leads the Oxford Vaccine Group, said parents should not be worried about the erosion of the immunity because the risk was extremely low.

The latest figures show that in 2008 there was one case of meningococcal disease in Gloucestershire.

The Health Protection Agency said it had time to introduce a booster.

A spokesman said: "Cases of meningitis C are at an all-time low thanks to the introduction of the group C meningococcal vaccine (Men C) to the childhood immunisation programme.

"There were only 13 cases of meningitis C in 2008/09 compared to 955 in 1998/99 – a decline of 99 per cent, largely due to the use of meningococcal C vaccine."