Department of Health deals hammer blow to meningitis C

4 Jan 01
A year-long mass vaccination programme that cost £20m has prevented 50 deaths from meningitis C and almost completely eradicated the disease, the Department of Health said this week

05 January 2001

A year-long mass vaccination programme that cost £20m has prevented 50 deaths from meningitis C and almost completely eradicated the disease, the Department of Health said this week.

Some 18 million vaccinations have been administered in schools and GP surgeries since the project was launched in November 1999. The department estimates it has prevented 500 cases.

In the past six months, incidents among the first groups to be vaccinated – babies younger than 12 months and 15 to 17-year-olds – fell by 90%, while across all ages they dropped by 75%. Meningitis C accounts for 40% of meningitis, which caused 150 deaths in 1998.

Dr George Kassianos, immunisation spokesman for the Royal College of General Practitioners, commented: 'We have created a miracle here. [Our success] in achieving these results in only a year will be the envy of the world.'

Chief medical officer Professor Liam Donaldson said the programme had 'dealt a hammer blow' to the disease, but warned that the most common form of meningitis – strain B – remained a threat as there was no vaccination available.
'This is a wonderful achievement,' he said. 'Meningitis C is an extremely serious illness if not prevented by the measures we have taken.'

PFjan2001

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