An all-Italian team of researchers has produced the first combined vaccine to protect against four of the five most dangerous strains of meningitis, the serogroups A, C, W135 and Y, reports Corriere della Sera.
The Swiss vaccine company Novartis, which also has a branch in Siena and produced a vaccine against meningitis C in 2008, has been given the green light to supply the new vaccine to pharmacies in Italy. It will be available to children over the age of eleven whose parents are in possession of a prescription from a paediatrician. Novartis coordinator Rino Rappuoli has explained that the vaccine contains a protein carrier which increases the body’s defences against the disease.
Meningitis affects around 900 people per year in Italy and, according to a recent survey, parents lack information about the disease. Only 32% of Italian mothers were aware that there are different strains of the disease and just 2% were able to name one. Only one third of Italian mothers have had their children vaccinated against meningitis.
Alberto Ugazio, Director of the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome says that paediatricians must talk to mothers to clarify the position and reassure them that today’s vaccines are much safer than those of the twentieth century.
