The Disease

Meningococcal disease can be caused by various types of the meningococcal bacterium. These can cause meningitis and blood poisoning; these are serious illnesses that kill 1 in 20 of children who get them, with a further 1 in 10 children suffering some form of permanent disability such as scarring, hearing loss or even amputation of part of a limb. However, the disease is thankfully uncommon. Before immunisation against meningococcus type C started in 1999, about 1300 children under 5 years of age contracted Meningococcal disease every year in the UK. Of these,about half had Meningitis B (for which there is no vaccine available) and a little over a third had Meningitis C, against which a vaccine was introduced in the UK in 1999. The remaining cases were caused by other strains including W135 and Y. Groups C and W135 are particularly dangerous, killing 1 in 7 children who catch these strains.¹ Groups A, W135 & Y are more common in other parts of the world.

Meningococcal disease occurs mainly in the first few years of life, though teenagers are more susceptible than other age groups.

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¹ Shigematsu M, Davison KL, Charlett A, Crowcroft NS. National enhanced surveillance of meningococcal disease in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, January 1999-June 2001. Epidemiology & Infection 2002; 129: 459-470.