LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Meningitis: Meningococcal Meningitis
built 634 days ago
Meningitis is a serious infection of the lining surrounding the brain. Meningococcal meningitis is a specific type of meningitis that strikes both children and adults. Despite treatment with antibiotics, it still kills as many as 13% of those infected, and often leaves others with permanent disability. Meningococcal meningitis is different from the meningitis in infants for which vaccination is routinely given.
Source:
Yes, in February 2005, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) recommended a new vaccine for use in the US to prevent meningitis. A previous version of the meningitis vaccine was first available in 1982. The old vaccine required booster doses every 3-5 years. The new vaccine protects against the same types of bacteria as the older vaccine (A, C, Y and W-135). The new vaccine will not require booster doses. Neither the new or the old meningitis vaccine protects against type B which accounts for two-thirds of all meningococcal disease in infants and one-third of cases in adolescents.
Source:
The leading cause of bacterial meningitis is the ill-named bacterium Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib), originally thought to be an influenza virus. It commonly affects infants and children. The second most common bacterial cause of meningitis is Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus). Meningococcal meningitis affects people of all ages and tends to occur in epidemics, especially among those who live in crowded conditions. An outbreak in the slums of Brazil in 1974รข€“75 killed 11,000 people and left over 75,000 with permanent neurological complications. In 1996, an epidemic centered in the Sahel region of W Africa killed 16,000.
Source:
You may have heard about the 17-year-old Long Island, New York,high-school student who recently died of meningococcal meningitis. While tragedies like this are certainly alarming, they shouldn't incite widespread panic. In fact, the disease is relatively uncommon in children. “Thanks to research and new vaccines, it’s very unlikely that your family is going to be affected by meningitis,” says Kathryn Edwards, MD, director of the division of pediatric clinical research at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville. Still, because the disease hasn’t been completely eradicated, safeguarding your child is the keyto keeping the infectionat bay. Here’s what you need to know about meningitis and the best ways to protect your child from it.
Source:
Bacterial meningitis calls for emergency medical care and the administration of antibiotics. Close contacts of patients with bacterial meningitis may receive prophylactic antibiotics, such as rifampin. Definitive diagnosis can be made by laboratory tests of cerebrospinal fluid obtained by a lumbar puncture (spinal tap). Twenty to thirty percent of children who survive bacterial meningitis sustain permanent neurological damage such as deafness, mental retardation, or convulsions. Since the late 1980s, routine vaccination of young children against Hib has virtually eliminated Hib disease in the United States. Routine vaccination against meningococcal meningitis is recommended for pre-adolescents, and vaccination is ... recommended for persons in the military or traveling to parts of Africa where the disease is endemic.
Source:
Meningococcal meningitis occurs sporadically in small clusters throughout the world with seasonal variations and accounts for a variable proportion of endemic bacterial meningitis. In temperate regions the number of cases increases in winter and spring. Serogroups B and C together account for a large majority of cases in Europe and the Americas. Several local outbreaks due to N. meningitidis serogroup C have been reported in Canada and USA (1992-93) and in Spain (1995-97). For 10 years, the meningococcal meningitis activity has particularly increased in New Zealand where an average of 500 cases occurs every year. Most of these cases are now due to serogroup B.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Meningococcal Meningitis