Meningitis C

What is meningitis?
The very mention of meningitis strikes fear into the heart of most parents in the UK. Such fears are understandable because meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord and can be a very serious illness. Although most people recover from the disease, some are left deaf or blind, and in others it may prove fatal. One of the biggest problems with meningitis is that it can develop very quickly. A child (or adult) can seem perfectly well and then, just a few hours later, be extremely ill with the disease. Another problem is that the symptoms can be difficult to distinguish from other, less serious infections.

What are the symptoms of meningitis?
In babies and young children it can cause fever, vomiting, refusal to feed, a high-pitched or moaning cry and irritability. Older children and adults may experience a severe headache, stiff neck and aversion to bright lights as well as fever and vomiting. Eventually, the person may become drowsy or unconscious. If septicaemia (blood poisoning) is also present a rash may develop that starts off looking like tiny red pin pricks. Later, the rash changes to purplish red blotches. If you press on the rash with a glass tumbler, the spots will not fade. Babies may develop a tense or bulging fontanelle (the soft spot on the top of the baby's head), blotchy or pale skin, rapid breathing, a floppy body or stiffness with jerky movements. Older children and adults with septicaemia may complain of cold hands and feet, aching muscles and joints, and stomach pain (sometimes with diarrhoea).

What causes meningitis?
A number of different viruses and bacteria can cause meningitis. Children in the UK are already offered vaccination against one of them, Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type B), but meningococcal group B and C are two types of bacteria that cause a large number of cases of meningitis in Britain. Group B is the most common, but group C causes more deaths. In recent times, there have been about 1500 cases of group C meningitis and septicaemia reported in the UK each year, some of which have been fatal. Unfortunately, there is no safe and effective vaccine against group B, but group C vaccine became available in the UK in November 1999, following which a marked drop in meningitis C infections occurred.

The new vaccine against meningitis C
The vaccine is made from a small part of the meningococcal bacteria. It stimulates the body's immune system to produce antibodies that act as a defence against group C meningococcal disease. If an immunised person comes into contact with the real bacteria, the antibodies will prevent their body from becoming infected with the group C bacteria and will protect the person from developing meningitis C or septicaemia. The new vaccine does not prevent infection with other viruses or bacteria, including group B meningococcus.

How safe and effective is the new vaccine?
Meningitis C vaccines (Meningitec, NeisVac-C) are produced in a very similar way to the Hib vaccine, which has been used routinely in babies in the UK since 1992, and has proved very safe and effective. Hib meningitis has nearly been wiped out in this country since the vaccine was introduced. No serious side effects of meningitis C have been identified. As the vaccine is not 'live', it cannot give anyone meningitis or septicaemia.

What reactions might be seen after vaccination?
Babies and toddlers may become a little irritable after their immunisation and up to 1 in 20 may develop a mild fever. A few may get redness or swelling around the injection site, but this usually lasts only a few days at most. In older children, fever is less common, but about a quarter will develop redness or swelling where the injection is given. About 1 in 100 will have a very sore arm for a day or so, and about 1 in 10 may complain of a headache after the immunisation. Is there anyone who should not have the meningitis C vaccine? There are only a few medical reasons why the vaccine should not be given:
a high temperature on the day of the immunisation.
a severe allergic reaction to a previous immunisation.
pregnancy.

Who should get meningitis C vaccine?
The national immunisation programme for meningitis C began in the autumn of 1999. Babies and young people aged 15 to 17 were the first to be offered the vaccine because they are at the greatest risk of developing meningococcal C infections.
Babies are given the meningitis C vaccine when they have their other immunisations at two, three and four months of age. Extension of vaccination to people aged 20-24 was notified by the chief medical officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, in January 2002. This is to be offered to all those who were not immunised against meningitis C and for those received the older 'polysaccharide' meningitis vaccine more than three years previously (your GP will be able to tell from your records what vaccinations you have had if you are unsure). All people with an absent or underactive spleen should also receive meningitis C vaccine (such people should also receive pneumococcal vaccine).

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