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Adolescents' meningitis C protection 'weakening'

06/06/2008

One in five adolescents aged between 11 and 13 does not have adequate protection against meningitis C, researchers warned today.

A team at Oxford University said their findings suggest a booster dose of vaccine may be needed to sustain protection amongst teenagers.

Previous studies have shown that the effectiveness of the meningitis C vaccine in infants drops over time as their level of antibodies fall.

Research has also shown that this does not happen in older children aged nine to 12 years who are given the vaccine.

The team at Oxford examined whether children aged between six and eight when they were vaccinated as part of the national campaign in 1999 to 2000 are still sufficiently protected.

While the majority, aged 11 to 20 years, had sufficient levels of antibodies to remain protected, about ten per cent more of those aged 14 to 20 years had that level of protection compared to those aged 11 to 13 years.

The researchers say one possible cause is the immune system maturing at around the age of ten.

"We suggest that a booster dose of serogroup C meningococcal vaccine administered in early adolescence would be appropriate for those [who received primary immunisation in early childhood without a booster dose]," they write in the online edition of the British Medical Journal (bmj.com)

"On the basis of this study, we can be confident that this booster dose would maintain high concentrations of bactericidal antibodies through adolescence and into early adulthood, regardless of which serogroup C meningococcal vaccine is used."

They added: "This should in turn provide protection not only to the vaccine recipients but also, through maintenance of herd immunity, to the younger children who have not received booster doses and among whom direct vaccine effectiveness is negligible."